Talheim Death Pit
Violence at Talheim | |||||||
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The town of Talheim, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. | |||||||
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Belligerents (suggested)[2] | |||||||
Local forces | Extralocals | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Unknown but more | Unknown, but were outnumbered 4:1[3] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
All men killed All women enslaved[4] | Unknown | ||||||
34 killed |
The Talheim Death Pit (
Evidence of violence
The Talheim grave contained a total of 34 skeletons, consisting of 16 children, nine adult males, seven adult women, and two more adults of indeterminate sex.
Reasons for violence
Investigation of the Neolithic skeletons found in the Talheim death pit suggests that prehistoric men from neighboring tribes were prepared to fight and kill each other in order to capture and secure women. Researchers discovered that there were women among the immigrant skeletons, but within the local group of skeletons there were only men and children.[4] They concluded that the absence of women among the local skeletons meant that they were regarded as somehow special, thus they were spared execution and captured instead. The capture of women may have indeed been the primary motive for the fierce conflict between the men.[9][10]
Other speculations as to the reasons for violence between settlements include vengeance, conflicts over land, resources,
Similar occurrences
Mass burial at Schletz-Asparn
The mass grave near Schletz,
Mass burial at Herxheim
Another Early Neolithic mass grave was found at Herxheim, near Landau in the Rhineland-Palatinate.[12] The site, unlike the mass burials at Talheim and Schletz, serves as proof of ritual cannibalism rather than of the first signs of violence in Europe.
Herxheim contained 173 skulls and skull-plates, and the scattered remains of at least 450 individuals.
Mass burial at Schöneck-Kilianstädten
This Neolithic mass grave, also in modern-day Germany, may exhibit signs of deliberate mutilation and/or torture.[14] Skeletal analysis of the interred remains showed a remarkably high percentage of long bones (especially in the lower leg) which were broken around the time of the individuals' deaths, which insinuates a deliberate targeting of these areas of the body, possibly as the victims were still alive.[14] The mass grave dates to 5207–4849 BCE, and has been referred to as "indisputable evidence for another massacre".[14]
Notes
- ^ Highfield, Roger (2 June 2008). "Neolithic men were prepared to fight for their women". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
But once the new method was used to separate the victims by geographic origin, it was clear that the local group was special - local because it was the only group with any young children, and special because it was the only group without adult women, despite being the largest group. The researchers conclude the absence of local females indicates that they were spared execution and captured instead which may have indeed been the primary motivation for the attack.
- ^ Highfield, Roger (2 June 2008). "Neolithic men were prepared to fight for their women". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
But once the new method was used to separate the victims by geographic origin, it was clear that the local group was special - local because it was the only group with any young children, and special because it was the only group without adult women, despite being the largest group. The researchers conclude the absence of local females indicates that they were spared execution and captured instead which may have indeed been the primary motivation for the attack.
- ISSN 1461-9571.
- ^ ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
- ^ Keeley 1996
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Golitko & Keeley 2007
- ^ Guilaine and Zammit 2005: 86.
- ^ a b c Scarre 2005
- ^ "Men Fighting Over Women? It's Nothing New, Suggests Research". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2019-10-31.
- ^ "Pursuit of Females Dates Way, Way Back". ABC News. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
- ^ a b c d e Robinson 2005
- ^ a b c d Orschiedt & Haidle 2006
- ^ a b c Warfare and Conquest 2004
- ^ PMID 26283359.
Bibliography
- Charles Scribner's Sons. (2004). Warfare and Conquest. Retrieved November 10, 2008, from http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/aneu_01/aneu_01_00030.html
- Gimbutas, M. (1980). "The Transformation of European and Anatolian Culture 4500–2500 B.C. and its Legacy". Journal of Indo-European Studies, 8 (1&2), 1–2.
- Golitko, M. & Keeley, L.H. (2007). "Beating ploughshares back into swords: warfare in the Linearbandkeramik." Antiquity, 81, 332–342.
- Guilaine, Jean; Zammit, Jean (2005). The Origins of War: Violence in Prehistory. Wiley-Blackwell.
- Keeley, L.H. (1996). War Before Civilization. New York: Oxford University. 37, 93.
- Mallory, J.P. (1989). In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth. London: Thames & Hudson.
- Orschiedt, J & Haidle, M.N. (2006). "The LBK Enclosure at Herxeim: Theatre of War or Ritual Centre?" Journal of Conflict Archeology, 2.1, 153–167.
- Pavúk, J. (1991) "Lengyel-culture Fortified Settlements in Slovakia." Antiquity, 65, 348–357.
- Robinson, C. A. (2005). "Archeology". In Ciovacco, J. (ed.), Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomas Gale
- Scarre, Chris (2005). The Human Past: World Prehistory and the Development of Human Societies. London: Thames and Hudson.