PAST CRIMESspear that created similar damage in the pig carcass to that observed in the
Neanderthal skeleton. The wound was not immediately fatal–it had started to
heal before he died.
It is believed that Neanderthals had not developed throwing spears–theirs
were the thrusting weapons, used at close quarters. The only people at the time
with the more advanced throwing spears were modern humans–our own
ancestors–leading to the conclusion that it was one of our own race who
murdered Shanidar 3.
Recently, evidence has come to light which suggests that Neanderthals were
not simply victims, but also that they killed others of their own species. In
northern Spain there is a cave system called El Sidrón, which stretches for
nearly three miles underground. In a cave about sixty feet deep, a number of
bones were discovered, that seem to have been washed down along with soil
and stone tools, from a rock shelter higher up. There were bones from six adults,
three male and three female, three teenage boys and three younger children aged
between two and nine years. The three men were possibly brothers, and two of
the women were mothers of the smaller children. All the bones had been
butchered, with skulls and bones split open to extract brains, tongues and
marrow. The excavators believe that, one day 49,000 years ago, an entire family
group was massacred and eaten raw (there were no signs of fire or burning) by a
neighbouring Neanderthal party of hunters, using tools that were made just a
few kilometres away. There were no modern human groups in the area at the
time. Then there was a violent storm, which washed the remains down through
a sinkhole into the cave below; one bonus of this is that the bones have not been
contaminated by later contact with animals or people, and may provide one of
the best sources yet for the extraction and study of Neanderthal DNA.^8
Studies of prehistoric skeletons from South Africa, on the edge of the
Kalahari Desert, have produced evidence for a very high amount of probable
interpersonal violence in the Later Stone Age period in that region. It is not
uncommon to find evidence of healed bone fractures in prehistoric specimens.
There are three definitions of bone trauma that are used by scientists. Damage
that occurred some time before death, and which had healed or started to heal,
is known as‘antemortem’trauma;‘perimortem’damage is trauma which
occurred close to or at the point of death, with no healing evident. Damage
that occurred after death, as a result of breakages occurring in the burial
environment, is called‘postmortem’trauma. In order to establish whether
damage on a bone has been caused by interpersonal violence, it is necessary to
determine when it happened, and to rule out other causes such as disease or
accident. It is seldom possible to do this with most bones unless there is a