7000-year-old Evidence of a Mysterious Cosmic Event is Helping Reveal the Secrets of an Ancient European Settlement

7,000 years ago something happened that was so severe that it permanently left a scar within our DNA...

0:00 The Dark Secret Of Our DNA
1:50 The Big Mystery Here
4:43 Massacre Sites
7:12 The Largest Prehistoric Massacre Ever
12:04 WHAT STARTED ALL THIS VIOLENCE?
15:28 How Did The Violence End?
The Forgotten Prehistoric War That Killed 19 Out Of 20 Men | 16:33
ExtinctZoo | 676K subscribers | 458,864 views | February 15, 2025

--> YouTube-Generated Transcript <--
0:00 · within every single one of us there are
0:02 · approximately 3.16 billion base pairs of
0:05 · DNA which contain not only our genetic
0:07 · information but also hold our deepest
0:09 · biological Secrets including the darkest
0:12 · most Twisted ones at least that's the
0:14 · case according to a few studies which
0:16 · have apparently found evidence that not
0:18 · so long ago much of the known world was
0:21 · Rife and violent bloody conflict that
0:23 · was so brutal that his ramifications
0:25 · have lasted until today it is completely
0:27 · unknown to most and yet in some ways
0:30 · represents the first global conflict
0:32 · Humanity has ever experienced as it
0:34 · spanned across much of the inhabited
0:36 · world making violence near Universal and
0:39 · Escape impossible it's not every day
0:42 · that we find evidence for such a
0:44 · destructive conflict let alone through
0:46 · our very own DNA but that's supposedly
0:48 · what happened after researchers analyzed
0:50 · the genomes of modern populations
0:53 · finding evidence of a very distinct
0:55 · genetic bottleneck now bottlenecks in
0:57 · general is what occurs when a population
1:00 · experien a drastic drop in numbers
1:02 · resulting in lower genetic diversity and
1:04 · that is honestly somewhat common in
1:06 · nature with even humans having endured
1:08 · more than one with a particularly deadly
1:10 · and famous One having took place
1:12 · approximately 900,000 years ago due to
1:14 · Mother Nature Shenanigans but the one
1:16 · I'm talking about and that these
1:18 · researchers identified was much more
1:20 · recent and seemingly our own fault to be
1:23 · exact a team took a look at chromosome
1:25 · sequences in contemporary humans and
1:28 · noticed evidence of a massive drop in in
1:30 · genetic diversity only a few thousand
1:32 · years ago during the late Neolithic
1:33 · period in the old world I.E Europe Asia
1:37 · Middle East Etc and suggesting that a
1:40 · lot of people died or disappeared
1:42 · relatively quickly now anything that
1:44 · heavily impacts the population could
1:46 · have been considered an answer to this
1:48 · mysterious die off yet what was so odd
1:50 · is that the bottleneck was only really
1:52 · seen in why chromosome diversity which
1:55 · is unique to males and passed on from
1:57 · father to son while in the mitochondrial
1:59 · DNA which has passed down through
2:01 · females researchers found no matching
2:03 · drop in diversity in other words
2:06 · something had happened which clearly
2:08 · affected a lot of men but not nearly as
2:10 · many women leading to the researcher's
2:12 · idea that unprecedented violence may
2:14 · have had been the explanation because if
2:17 · the perpetrator was a volcanic eruption
2:19 · severe weather or some other form of
2:21 · Mother Nature you'd expect the drop in
2:23 · genetic diversity to be more or less
2:24 · equal between genders not just in one
2:28 · and really a drop is not the best word
2:30 · to describe what happened to the men as
2:32 · a more appropriate word would be
2:33 · decimated with the scientists estimating
2:36 · that this event was so horrific that by
2:38 · the time it subsided the effective male
2:40 · population in Africa Europe Asia and the
2:43 · Middle East had been reduced by up to
2:45 · 95% meaning that theoretically only one
2:48 · in 20 men survive this purge with women
2:51 · possibly outnumbering men 17 to1 no
2:55 · conflict in recorded history comes even
2:57 · close to this kind of lethality by a
2:59 · percentage not even World War I or World
3:01 · War II and if you wanted to recreate
3:03 · such a brutal conflict today then
3:05 · there'd have to be a loss of
3:06 · approximately 3.9 billion men leaving
3:09 · only about 200 million standing
3:12 · naturally when someone claims that our
3:14 · DNA is proof that a terrible conflict
3:16 · happened you'd expect to find at least a
3:18 · couple of bodies lying around that we
3:20 · could point to as hard evidence and as
3:22 · it turns out there are lots and lots and
3:24 · lots of them in fact it's actually hard
3:26 · to miss them and we discovered well over
3:28 · 250 late Neolithic dated sites where
3:31 · violent deaths have occurred and that's
3:33 · just in Europe alone and even in general
3:36 · Neolithic humans are notorious for being
3:38 · found in Grim conditions in containing
3:40 · unparalleled amounts of bodily harm
3:42 · especially when compared to earlier or
3:44 · later humans with one analysis of more
3:46 · than 2,300 early farmers finding that
3:49 · over 10% of the men and women displayed
3:52 · injuries reflecting weapons likely from
3:54 · raiding parties or competition that
3:55 · attacked for their crops and livestock
3:58 · another analysis of three 138
4:00 · individuals in Spain found that 23%
4:02 · showed signs of aggressive damage with
4:04 · adult and Adolescent males especially
4:06 · being heavily impacted making up 97% of
4:09 · the unhealed individuals and 81% of
4:12 · those that showed healed trauma
4:14 · suggesting that it was very common to
4:16 · experience more than one violent
4:17 · encounter in a lifetime and obviously
4:20 · these numbers are pretty darn high but
4:21 · they're not the 95% inferred in the
4:23 · study yet research points out that in
4:25 · many cases violent attacks don't
4:27 · actually leave marks in the bones with
4:29 · only 15% of fatal melee attacks the
4:32 · sharp weapons leaving any sort of bone
4:34 · lesions behind and you also have to take
4:36 · into account infections disease and
4:38 · other indirect modes of death that are
4:40 · associated with conflict now obviously
4:43 · these weren't the first people to be
4:44 · found murdered by their own but their
4:46 · frequency was no doubt extreme and
4:48 · scientists noted two things that became
4:50 · exceptionally common during this period
4:52 · battles and indiscriminate massacres
4:55 · with multiple SIDS of brutality being
4:56 · known of one of the most gruesome is the
4:59 · tal Death Pit located in Germany which
5:01 · is dated to about 5,000 BC here
5:05 · scientists un Earth the remains of at
5:06 · least 34 individuals who had been
5:08 · brutally slain and what's crazy is that
5:10 · none of the skeletons bore any kind of
5:12 · defensive injuries which implies that
5:14 · they were fleeing and not fighting the
5:16 · attacking party and across the board The
5:19 · Killing blows could all be placed in
5:20 · just three categories those that were
5:22 · made by a sharp side of an adzy likee
5:24 · tool those by the blunt side and finally
5:27 · the ones killed by arrows which only
5:29 · accounted for three of the 34 victims
5:32 · analysis on the skulls also showed that
5:34 · Warriors back then often aimed for the
5:36 · head with all but four of the skeletons
5:38 · having lethal cranial injuries sometimes
5:41 · on top of already deadly wounds and
5:43 · among the dead 16 had been children nine
5:46 · of them adult men and seven being older
5:48 · females while younger women were
5:50 · noticeably absent a popular theme
5:52 · amongst Neolithic Massacre sites
5:54 · suggesting that they were viewed as
5:56 · valuable and likely as a trophy being
5:58 · kidnapped by the victors
6:00 · this particular attack took place within
6:02 · a settlement to possessed fortifications
6:04 · like Palisades which only further proves
6:06 · that back then there was a strong need
6:08 · to wall yourself off from other humans
6:11 · and sure enough other Massacre sites
6:13 · that took place in settlements also had
6:15 · fortifications like the massacre of
6:17 · schletz which likely took place in 5000
6:19 · BC as well occurring not so far away in
6:22 · Austria and this one was far deadlier
6:25 · with 200 victims being known of they
6:27 · were carelessly dumped in a mass grave
6:29 · after a raid on a settlement like
6:31 · talheim there was again a noticeable
6:33 · lack of dead women and lots of dead men
6:36 · but this Slaughter did differ in some
6:38 · ways first off on top of presumably
6:40 · kidnapping adult women they also might
6:42 · have captured pre-teens and young
6:44 · teenagers as they too were noticeably
6:47 · few among the dead and another Grim
6:50 · difference was that in this attack many
6:52 · of the Dead were found without their
6:53 · arms and legs while severed skulls were
6:56 · located separately evidence of potential
6:58 · torture and
7:00 · dismemberment this could have also been
7:01 · a tradition for the attacking party and
7:03 · showcase that different combatants had
7:05 · varying rituals for example in Asia head
7:08 · hunting was particularly common and
7:10 · another poignant case that further
7:12 · demonstrates this happens to be the
7:14 · largest known prehistoric Mass grave
7:16 · herxheim in Germany and it occurred
7:19 · between 5,300 and 4,950 BC but instead
7:24 · of a ravaged settlement archaeologists
7:26 · actually believe they found a community
7:28 · that were the ravagers having created at
7:30 · least 80 pits right outside their 15
7:32 · acre large Village that were essentially
7:35 · filled to the brim with victims which so
7:37 · far is estimated to have exceeded 1,000
7:40 · individuals possibly up to 1500 and
7:43 · ranged in age from newborns to elders
7:46 · and if we account for the population
7:48 · difference between then and now it would
7:50 · almost be like a city building a mass
7:52 · grave with over 800,000 corpses right
7:55 · outside their City walls nearly each one
7:58 · was processed in a similar way with a
8:00 · native population dismembering and
8:02 · breaking bones while also cleaving their
8:04 · skulls down the middle in fact so many
8:07 · skulls were cut and seemingly def
8:08 · fleshed that a researchers reckon that
8:11 · this community were skull cultists that
8:13 · used the heads in some ritual and most
8:15 · likely ate pieces of them as well with
8:17 · the brain being an especially prized
8:19 · part considering its fatty content there
8:21 · were also signs the tongues were often
8:23 · removed from the dead and that the bones
8:25 · were crushed for easy marrow extraction
8:27 · and to sprinkle just a bit more
8:28 · queasiness into this scientists further
8:31 · realized that there were less spongy
8:33 · bone elements than there should have
8:34 · been and that certain bones like the
8:36 · metapodials and hand falles showed
8:39 · preferential biting in other words these
8:42 · guys had their favorite parts of the
8:43 · body to munch on plus many of the bodies
8:46 · were cooked with some even showing signs
8:49 · of having been spit roasted and then
8:51 · when it was all said and done bones were
8:53 · processed into cups other items or
8:56 · turned into decorations as some were
8:58 · found near were on spikes where the
9:00 · entrance of the settlement was situated
9:03 · suffice to say this was just about the
9:05 · worst group you could get caught by but
9:07 · avoiding them might have been harder
9:09 · than you would think because despite the
9:11 · lack of Transportation back then they
9:13 · still managed to wage war on a large
9:15 · scale with many of their victims having
9:17 · come from vastly different cultures some
9:19 · of which were only found 300 M or 482 km
9:23 · away the dead also ranged in lifestyle
9:26 · with some having Isotopes demonstrating
9:28 · that they were hunter gatherers While
9:30 · others have been farmers and then you
9:32 · also had victims that came from up in
9:33 · the mountains and those from the
9:35 · lowlands which all points to the idea
9:37 · that herim's natives were horrifically
9:39 · bloodthirsty people who managed to carry
9:41 · out successful raids that required not
9:43 · only tactics but a certain level of
9:45 · logistics and not to mention that while
9:48 · their settlement was large by a
9:49 · Neolithic standard it was still
9:51 · significantly smaller than a thousand
9:53 · and when I say a thousand I mean less
9:55 · than 50 people so impressive in a very
9:58 · dark way
9:59 · that being said there are still some
10:01 · Mysteries regarding this place like who
10:03 · exactly were the dead captives of War
10:06 · slaves or were some just unlucky
10:08 · Travelers that got too close also no one
10:11 · is really sure what happened to the
10:12 · natives of herxheim with some test
10:14 · suggesting that the settlement was
10:16 · abandoned soon after the massacres took
10:18 · place with a maximum settlement time of
10:20 · 50 years following the burials leading
10:23 · people to wonder if another group came
10:25 · seeking retribution so obviously it's
10:28 · hard to argue against her's time as
10:30 · being the most gruesome site we know of
10:32 · but such weird specific brutality was
10:35 · not isolated to just this case and many
10:37 · more instances are known of Warriors
10:40 · that collected heads you've got it
10:42 · groups that systematically broke and
10:43 · removed shins yep there was that too
10:46 · xenophobic groups that hunted down and
10:48 · mutilated newcomers boom done and then
10:51 · finally you even had Fighters that
10:53 · buried people alive because apparently
10:55 · that was a thing as well in addition to
10:58 · a diverse range of brutality
10:59 · there was also a lot of diversity when
11:01 · it came to the weapons themselves and
11:03 · many kinds of blunt and sharp weapons
11:05 · were used in battles such as adses
11:07 · Spears bows and arrows axes clubs knives
11:12 · scrapers sick and hose Hammers and the
11:16 · list goes on and unfortunately for
11:18 · combatants the level of armor back then
11:20 · did not match the innovativeness of
11:22 · their weapons with no standard
11:24 · protection being known of and Fighters
11:26 · likely didn't wear much besides animal
11:28 · skin woven cloth imp plant material this
11:31 · all made living exceptionally difficult
11:33 · for anyone but especially for men
11:35 · capable of fighting and simply growing
11:37 · up was an accomplishment with a level of
11:39 · violence resulting in a measly lifespan
11:41 · of between 20 and 33 years old and thus
11:44 · tying it for first place for the time
11:46 · when modern humans died the youngest and
11:48 · this is even accounting for infam
11:50 · Morality as even if you made it to say
11:52 · 15 you'd still be expected to not make
11:55 · it past 33 and so with all this
11:57 · nightmare fuel considered it really just
11:59 · leads to one simple question which is
12:02 · what the hell was going on why was
12:04 · everyone seemingly in a Non-Stop fight
12:06 · with everyone else and sadly there isn't
12:09 · one single clear answer to this but
12:11 · there are a few different ideas and
12:13 · ironically one of the top hypotheses
12:15 · pins it off as humans flying too close
12:17 · to the Sun to be exact not so long
12:20 · before the violence kicked off Humanity
12:22 · entered the Neolithic Revolution also
12:24 · known as the first Agricultural
12:27 · Revolution this period in history saw
12:29 · many human cultures transition from
12:31 · hunter gatherers to settlers and Farmers
12:34 · this allowed for a boost in population
12:36 · and the ability to establish
12:37 · full-fledged settlements which in turn
12:40 · led to progress in other areas as well
12:42 · and this sounds great on paper but this
12:44 · success also meant that humans could now
12:46 · better organize large battle worthy
12:48 · groups courtesy of said settlements and
12:51 · had access to a wider range of weapons
12:53 · than ever before additionally this shift
12:55 · provided humans with new reasons to kill
12:58 · that didn't really exist beforehand as
13:00 · they now knew that settlements and Farms
13:02 · equal guaranteed loot food and wom all
13:04 · in one place furthermore by proximity
13:07 · alone settlements might have been viewed
13:09 · as hostile by others and potentially as
13:12 · existential threats leading to the
13:14 · notion that all neighbors are bad news
13:16 · and had to go another more specific idea
13:19 · that tries to answer how the white
13:20 · chromosome in particular was so
13:22 · obliterated Beyond just the violence
13:24 · states that as the Revolution was
13:25 · underway societal structures reorganized
13:28 · with more and more people forming
13:30 · patrilineal kin groups perhaps because
13:33 · trust was a rare commodity and it was
13:35 · easier to rely on those you were related
13:36 · to and this resulted in unrestricted
13:39 · movement for women but very much
13:41 · restricted for men in other words no
13:43 · Outsiders allowed if you were a guy this
13:46 · would have made the Y chromosome very
13:48 · vulnerable and explains why it was so
13:50 · affected when these Clans waged war
13:52 · against one another and ultimately
13:53 · leading to the genetic bottleneck being
13:55 · very much one-sided but like many ideas
13:59 · there are those that disagree with this
14:00 · hypothesis and instead actually propose
14:03 · a peaceful explanation to this now
14:05 · obviously as the abundance of skeletons
14:07 · show violence was quite prevalent at the
14:09 · time but in terms of the genetic
14:11 · bottleneck one team of scientist thinks
14:13 · the patrilineal Clans may have split up
14:15 · often through a peaceful process called
14:17 · lineal fision since these new clans were
14:20 · made up of closely related males their
14:22 · why chromosome lineages became more
14:24 · vulnerable to disappearing over time
14:26 · especially due to environmental
14:27 · hardships this led to a gradual drop in
14:30 · wi chromosome diversity as some male
14:32 · lineages were very successful in
14:34 · surviving and others slowly faded away
14:37 · this was only further compounded by
14:39 · reproductive Fitness where some groups
14:41 · were much more successful which led to
14:43 · more growing and splitting only
14:44 · reinforcing their dominance While others
14:47 · just couldn't keep up and eventually
14:49 · vanished of course there is then the
14:51 · possibility that actually both of these
14:53 · ideas were on the right track with
14:55 · peaceful and violent factors having
14:57 · worked together to bring the effect
14:59 · effective male population way down
15:01 · whatever the case there's certainly no
15:03 · denying that something happened and to
15:05 · this day the legacy of this bottleneck
15:07 · remains with certain populations still
15:09 · not being at the same diversity as pre-
15:11 · bottleneck levels and if this had never
15:13 · happened it's fair to say that things
15:15 · would be quite different still our
15:18 · genetics overall have mostly recovered
15:20 · and we don't kill everyone else on site
15:22 · so at least there's that improvement
15:24 · though it does lead to a second question
15:26 · which is how did all this potential
15:28 · bloodshed end well it didn't at least
15:31 · not in an absolute sense because over
15:33 · time from a pure numbers Point more
15:36 · people did end up dying in Wars
15:38 · especially thanks to new technology it
15:40 · just so happens that we grew faster than
15:42 · we died so things got relatively better
15:45 · then sometime later as more complex
15:47 · societies were created and trade and
15:49 · diplomacy arose things cooled off
15:52 · however when you look at the last 600
15:54 · years you can see that this cooling off
15:56 · was only very recently as it was only
15:59 · the last 100 or so that we really
16:00 · started to turn a new leaf with the
16:02 · amount of conflicts starting each year
16:04 · being on a mostly downward spiral since
16:06 · World War I and while it may be hard to
16:09 · believe these days we do live in an
16:11 · extremely peaceful world compared to the
16:13 · one they used to be and this is of
16:15 · course reflected in our very long
16:16 · lifespans which is over three times that
16:19 · of the Neolithic ones and while we
16:21 · certainly do have our very own problems
16:23 · I for one am glad I don't have to worry
16:25 · about skull Cults and shint takers
16:27 · anymore at least for the for the most
16:29 · part thanks for watching and until next
16:31 · time onx Zoo

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--> YouTube-Generated Transcript <--
0:00	·	within every single one of us there are
0:02	·	approximately 3.16 billion base pairs of
0:05	·	DNA which contain not only our genetic
0:07	·	information but also hold our deepest
0:09	·	biological Secrets including the darkest
0:12	·	most Twisted ones at least that's the
0:14	·	case according to a few studies which
0:16	·	have apparently found evidence that not
0:18	·	so long ago much of the known world was
0:21	·	Rife and violent bloody conflict that
0:23	·	was so brutal that his ramifications
0:25	·	have lasted until today it is completely
0:27	·	unknown to most and yet in some ways
0:30	·	represents the first global conflict
0:32	·	Humanity has ever experienced as it
0:34	·	spanned across much of the inhabited
0:36	·	world making violence near Universal and
0:39	·	Escape impossible it's not every day
0:42	·	that we find evidence for such a
0:44	·	destructive conflict let alone through
0:46	·	our very own DNA but that's supposedly
0:48	·	what happened after researchers analyzed
0:50	·	the genomes of modern populations
0:53	·	finding evidence of a very distinct
0:55	·	genetic bottleneck now bottlenecks in
0:57	·	general is what occurs when a population
1:00	·	experien a drastic drop in numbers
1:02	·	resulting in lower genetic diversity and
1:04	·	that is honestly somewhat common in
1:06	·	nature with even humans having endured
1:08	·	more than one with a particularly deadly
1:10	·	and famous One having took place
1:12	·	approximately 900,000 years ago due to
1:14	·	Mother Nature Shenanigans but the one
1:16	·	I'm talking about and that these
1:18	·	researchers identified was much more
1:20	·	recent and seemingly our own fault to be
1:23	·	exact a team took a look at chromosome
1:25	·	sequences in contemporary humans and
1:28	·	noticed evidence of a massive drop in in
1:30	·	genetic diversity only a few thousand
1:32	·	years ago during the late Neolithic
1:33	·	period in the old world I.E Europe Asia
1:37	·	Middle East Etc and suggesting that a
1:40	·	lot of people died or disappeared
1:42	·	relatively quickly now anything that
1:44	·	heavily impacts the population could
1:46	·	have been considered an answer to this
1:48	·	mysterious die off yet what was so odd
1:50	·	is that the bottleneck was only really
1:52	·	seen in why chromosome diversity which
1:55	·	is unique to males and passed on from
1:57	·	father to son while in the mitochondrial
1:59	·	DNA which has passed down through
2:01	·	females researchers found no matching
2:03	·	drop in diversity in other words
2:06	·	something had happened which clearly
2:08	·	affected a lot of men but not nearly as
2:10	·	many women leading to the researcher's
2:12	·	idea that unprecedented violence may
2:14	·	have had been the explanation because if
2:17	·	the perpetrator was a volcanic eruption
2:19	·	severe weather or some other form of
2:21	·	Mother Nature you'd expect the drop in
2:23	·	genetic diversity to be more or less
2:24	·	equal between genders not just in one
2:28	·	and really a drop is not the best word
2:30	·	to describe what happened to the men as
2:32	·	a more appropriate word would be
2:33	·	decimated with the scientists estimating
2:36	·	that this event was so horrific that by
2:38	·	the time it subsided the effective male
2:40	·	population in Africa Europe Asia and the
2:43	·	Middle East had been reduced by up to
2:45	·	95% meaning that theoretically only one
2:48	·	in 20 men survive this purge with women
2:51	·	possibly outnumbering men 17 to1 no
2:55	·	conflict in recorded history comes even
2:57	·	close to this kind of lethality by a
2:59	·	percentage not even World War I or World
3:01	·	War II and if you wanted to recreate
3:03	·	such a brutal conflict today then
3:05	·	there'd have to be a loss of
3:06	·	approximately 3.9 billion men leaving
3:09	·	only about 200 million standing
3:12	·	naturally when someone claims that our
3:14	·	DNA is proof that a terrible conflict
3:16	·	happened you'd expect to find at least a
3:18	·	couple of bodies lying around that we
3:20	·	could point to as hard evidence and as
3:22	·	it turns out there are lots and lots and
3:24	·	lots of them in fact it's actually hard
3:26	·	to miss them and we discovered well over
3:28	·	250 late Neolithic dated sites where
3:31	·	violent deaths have occurred and that's
3:33	·	just in Europe alone and even in general
3:36	·	Neolithic humans are notorious for being
3:38	·	found in Grim conditions in containing
3:40	·	unparalleled amounts of bodily harm
3:42	·	especially when compared to earlier or
3:44	·	later humans with one analysis of more
3:46	·	than 2,300 early farmers finding that
3:49	·	over 10% of the men and women displayed
3:52	·	injuries reflecting weapons likely from
3:54	·	raiding parties or competition that
3:55	·	attacked for their crops and livestock
3:58	·	another analysis of three 138
4:00	·	individuals in Spain found that 23%
4:02	·	showed signs of aggressive damage with
4:04	·	adult and Adolescent males especially
4:06	·	being heavily impacted making up 97% of
4:09	·	the unhealed individuals and 81% of
4:12	·	those that showed healed trauma
4:14	·	suggesting that it was very common to
4:16	·	experience more than one violent
4:17	·	encounter in a lifetime and obviously
4:20	·	these numbers are pretty darn high but
4:21	·	they're not the 95% inferred in the
4:23	·	study yet research points out that in
4:25	·	many cases violent attacks don't
4:27	·	actually leave marks in the bones with
4:29	·	only 15% of fatal melee attacks the
4:32	·	sharp weapons leaving any sort of bone
4:34	·	lesions behind and you also have to take
4:36	·	into account infections disease and
4:38	·	other indirect modes of death that are
4:40	·	associated with conflict now obviously
4:43	·	these weren't the first people to be
4:44	·	found murdered by their own but their
4:46	·	frequency was no doubt extreme and
4:48	·	scientists noted two things that became
4:50	·	exceptionally common during this period
4:52	·	battles and indiscriminate massacres
4:55	·	with multiple SIDS of brutality being
4:56	·	known of one of the most gruesome is the
4:59	·	tal Death Pit located in Germany which
5:01	·	is dated to about 5,000 BC here
5:05	·	scientists un Earth the remains of at
5:06	·	least 34 individuals who had been
5:08	·	brutally slain and what's crazy is that
5:10	·	none of the skeletons bore any kind of
5:12	·	defensive injuries which implies that
5:14	·	they were fleeing and not fighting the
5:16	·	attacking party and across the board The
5:19	·	Killing blows could all be placed in
5:20	·	just three categories those that were
5:22	·	made by a sharp side of an adzy likee
5:24	·	tool those by the blunt side and finally
5:27	·	the ones killed by arrows which only
5:29	·	accounted for three of the 34 victims
5:32	·	analysis on the skulls also showed that
5:34	·	Warriors back then often aimed for the
5:36	·	head with all but four of the skeletons
5:38	·	having lethal cranial injuries sometimes
5:41	·	on top of already deadly wounds and
5:43	·	among the dead 16 had been children nine
5:46	·	of them adult men and seven being older
5:48	·	females while younger women were
5:50	·	noticeably absent a popular theme
5:52	·	amongst Neolithic Massacre sites
5:54	·	suggesting that they were viewed as
5:56	·	valuable and likely as a trophy being
5:58	·	kidnapped by the victors
6:00	·	this particular attack took place within
6:02	·	a settlement to possessed fortifications
6:04	·	like Palisades which only further proves
6:06	·	that back then there was a strong need
6:08	·	to wall yourself off from other humans
6:11	·	and sure enough other Massacre sites
6:13	·	that took place in settlements also had
6:15	·	fortifications like the massacre of
6:17	·	schletz which likely took place in 5000
6:19	·	BC as well occurring not so far away in
6:22	·	Austria and this one was far deadlier
6:25	·	with 200 victims being known of they
6:27	·	were carelessly dumped in a mass grave
6:29	·	after a raid on a settlement like
6:31	·	talheim there was again a noticeable
6:33	·	lack of dead women and lots of dead men
6:36	·	but this Slaughter did differ in some
6:38	·	ways first off on top of presumably
6:40	·	kidnapping adult women they also might
6:42	·	have captured pre-teens and young
6:44	·	teenagers as they too were noticeably
6:47	·	few among the dead and another Grim
6:50	·	difference was that in this attack many
6:52	·	of the Dead were found without their
6:53	·	arms and legs while severed skulls were
6:56	·	located separately evidence of potential
6:58	·	torture and
7:00	·	dismemberment this could have also been
7:01	·	a tradition for the attacking party and
7:03	·	showcase that different combatants had
7:05	·	varying rituals for example in Asia head
7:08	·	hunting was particularly common and
7:10	·	another poignant case that further
7:12	·	demonstrates this happens to be the
7:14	·	largest known prehistoric Mass grave
7:16	·	herxheim in Germany and it occurred
7:19	·	between 5,300 and 4,950 BC but instead
7:24	·	of a ravaged settlement archaeologists
7:26	·	actually believe they found a community
7:28	·	that were the ravagers having created at
7:30	·	least 80 pits right outside their 15
7:32	·	acre large Village that were essentially
7:35	·	filled to the brim with victims which so
7:37	·	far is estimated to have exceeded 1,000
7:40	·	individuals possibly up to 1500 and
7:43	·	ranged in age from newborns to elders
7:46	·	and if we account for the population
7:48	·	difference between then and now it would
7:50	·	almost be like a city building a mass
7:52	·	grave with over 800,000 corpses right
7:55	·	outside their City walls nearly each one
7:58	·	was processed in a similar way with a
8:00	·	native population dismembering and
8:02	·	breaking bones while also cleaving their
8:04	·	skulls down the middle in fact so many
8:07	·	skulls were cut and seemingly def
8:08	·	fleshed that a researchers reckon that
8:11	·	this community were skull cultists that
8:13	·	used the heads in some ritual and most
8:15	·	likely ate pieces of them as well with
8:17	·	the brain being an especially prized
8:19	·	part considering its fatty content there
8:21	·	were also signs the tongues were often
8:23	·	removed from the dead and that the bones
8:25	·	were crushed for easy marrow extraction
8:27	·	and to sprinkle just a bit more
8:28	·	queasiness into this scientists further
8:31	·	realized that there were less spongy
8:33	·	bone elements than there should have
8:34	·	been and that certain bones like the
8:36	·	metapodials and hand falles showed
8:39	·	preferential biting in other words these
8:42	·	guys had their favorite parts of the
8:43	·	body to munch on plus many of the bodies
8:46	·	were cooked with some even showing signs
8:49	·	of having been spit roasted and then
8:51	·	when it was all said and done bones were
8:53	·	processed into cups other items or
8:56	·	turned into decorations as some were
8:58	·	found near were on spikes where the
9:00	·	entrance of the settlement was situated
9:03	·	suffice to say this was just about the
9:05	·	worst group you could get caught by but
9:07	·	avoiding them might have been harder
9:09	·	than you would think because despite the
9:11	·	lack of Transportation back then they
9:13	·	still managed to wage war on a large
9:15	·	scale with many of their victims having
9:17	·	come from vastly different cultures some
9:19	·	of which were only found 300 M or 482 km
9:23	·	away the dead also ranged in lifestyle
9:26	·	with some having Isotopes demonstrating
9:28	·	that they were hunter gatherers While
9:30	·	others have been farmers and then you
9:32	·	also had victims that came from up in
9:33	·	the mountains and those from the
9:35	·	lowlands which all points to the idea
9:37	·	that herim's natives were horrifically
9:39	·	bloodthirsty people who managed to carry
9:41	·	out successful raids that required not
9:43	·	only tactics but a certain level of
9:45	·	logistics and not to mention that while
9:48	·	their settlement was large by a
9:49	·	Neolithic standard it was still
9:51	·	significantly smaller than a thousand
9:53	·	and when I say a thousand I mean less
9:55	·	than 50 people so impressive in a very
9:58	·	dark way
9:59	·	that being said there are still some
10:01	·	Mysteries regarding this place like who
10:03	·	exactly were the dead captives of War
10:06	·	slaves or were some just unlucky
10:08	·	Travelers that got too close also no one
10:11	·	is really sure what happened to the
10:12	·	natives of herxheim with some test
10:14	·	suggesting that the settlement was
10:16	·	abandoned soon after the massacres took
10:18	·	place with a maximum settlement time of
10:20	·	50 years following the burials leading
10:23	·	people to wonder if another group came
10:25	·	seeking retribution so obviously it's
10:28	·	hard to argue against her's time as
10:30	·	being the most gruesome site we know of
10:32	·	but such weird specific brutality was
10:35	·	not isolated to just this case and many
10:37	·	more instances are known of Warriors
10:40	·	that collected heads you've got it
10:42	·	groups that systematically broke and
10:43	·	removed shins yep there was that too
10:46	·	xenophobic groups that hunted down and
10:48	·	mutilated newcomers boom done and then
10:51	·	finally you even had Fighters that
10:53	·	buried people alive because apparently
10:55	·	that was a thing as well in addition to
10:58	·	a diverse range of brutality
10:59	·	there was also a lot of diversity when
11:01	·	it came to the weapons themselves and
11:03	·	many kinds of blunt and sharp weapons
11:05	·	were used in battles such as adses
11:07	·	Spears bows and arrows axes clubs knives
11:12	·	scrapers sick and hose Hammers and the
11:16	·	list goes on and unfortunately for
11:18	·	combatants the level of armor back then
11:20	·	did not match the innovativeness of
11:22	·	their weapons with no standard
11:24	·	protection being known of and Fighters
11:26	·	likely didn't wear much besides animal
11:28	·	skin woven cloth imp plant material this
11:31	·	all made living exceptionally difficult
11:33	·	for anyone but especially for men
11:35	·	capable of fighting and simply growing
11:37	·	up was an accomplishment with a level of
11:39	·	violence resulting in a measly lifespan
11:41	·	of between 20 and 33 years old and thus
11:44	·	tying it for first place for the time
11:46	·	when modern humans died the youngest and
11:48	·	this is even accounting for infam
11:50	·	Morality as even if you made it to say
11:52	·	15 you'd still be expected to not make
11:55	·	it past 33 and so with all this
11:57	·	nightmare fuel considered it really just
11:59	·	leads to one simple question which is
12:02	·	what the hell was going on why was
12:04	·	everyone seemingly in a Non-Stop fight
12:06	·	with everyone else and sadly there isn't
12:09	·	one single clear answer to this but
12:11	·	there are a few different ideas and
12:13	·	ironically one of the top hypotheses
12:15	·	pins it off as humans flying too close
12:17	·	to the Sun to be exact not so long
12:20	·	before the violence kicked off Humanity
12:22	·	entered the Neolithic Revolution also
12:24	·	known as the first Agricultural
12:27	·	Revolution this period in history saw
12:29	·	many human cultures transition from
12:31	·	hunter gatherers to settlers and Farmers
12:34	·	this allowed for a boost in population
12:36	·	and the ability to establish
12:37	·	full-fledged settlements which in turn
12:40	·	led to progress in other areas as well
12:42	·	and this sounds great on paper but this
12:44	·	success also meant that humans could now
12:46	·	better organize large battle worthy
12:48	·	groups courtesy of said settlements and
12:51	·	had access to a wider range of weapons
12:53	·	than ever before additionally this shift
12:55	·	provided humans with new reasons to kill
12:58	·	that didn't really exist beforehand as
13:00	·	they now knew that settlements and Farms
13:02	·	equal guaranteed loot food and wom all
13:04	·	in one place furthermore by proximity
13:07	·	alone settlements might have been viewed
13:09	·	as hostile by others and potentially as
13:12	·	existential threats leading to the
13:14	·	notion that all neighbors are bad news
13:16	·	and had to go another more specific idea
13:19	·	that tries to answer how the white
13:20	·	chromosome in particular was so
13:22	·	obliterated Beyond just the violence
13:24	·	states that as the Revolution was
13:25	·	underway societal structures reorganized
13:28	·	with more and more people forming
13:30	·	patrilineal kin groups perhaps because
13:33	·	trust was a rare commodity and it was
13:35	·	easier to rely on those you were related
13:36	·	to and this resulted in unrestricted
13:39	·	movement for women but very much
13:41	·	restricted for men in other words no
13:43	·	Outsiders allowed if you were a guy this
13:46	·	would have made the Y chromosome very
13:48	·	vulnerable and explains why it was so
13:50	·	affected when these Clans waged war
13:52	·	against one another and ultimately
13:53	·	leading to the genetic bottleneck being
13:55	·	very much one-sided but like many ideas
13:59	·	there are those that disagree with this
14:00	·	hypothesis and instead actually propose
14:03	·	a peaceful explanation to this now
14:05	·	obviously as the abundance of skeletons
14:07	·	show violence was quite prevalent at the
14:09	·	time but in terms of the genetic
14:11	·	bottleneck one team of scientist thinks
14:13	·	the patrilineal Clans may have split up
14:15	·	often through a peaceful process called
14:17	·	lineal fision since these new clans were
14:20	·	made up of closely related males their
14:22	·	why chromosome lineages became more
14:24	·	vulnerable to disappearing over time
14:26	·	especially due to environmental
14:27	·	hardships this led to a gradual drop in
14:30	·	wi chromosome diversity as some male
14:32	·	lineages were very successful in
14:34	·	surviving and others slowly faded away
14:37	·	this was only further compounded by
14:39	·	reproductive Fitness where some groups
14:41	·	were much more successful which led to
14:43	·	more growing and splitting only
14:44	·	reinforcing their dominance While others
14:47	·	just couldn't keep up and eventually
14:49	·	vanished of course there is then the
14:51	·	possibility that actually both of these
14:53	·	ideas were on the right track with
14:55	·	peaceful and violent factors having
14:57	·	worked together to bring the effect
14:59	·	effective male population way down
15:01	·	whatever the case there's certainly no
15:03	·	denying that something happened and to
15:05	·	this day the legacy of this bottleneck
15:07	·	remains with certain populations still
15:09	·	not being at the same diversity as pre-
15:11	·	bottleneck levels and if this had never
15:13	·	happened it's fair to say that things
15:15	·	would be quite different still our
15:18	·	genetics overall have mostly recovered
15:20	·	and we don't kill everyone else on site
15:22	·	so at least there's that improvement
15:24	·	though it does lead to a second question
15:26	·	which is how did all this potential
15:28	·	bloodshed end well it didn't at least
15:31	·	not in an absolute sense because over
15:33	·	time from a pure numbers Point more
15:36	·	people did end up dying in Wars
15:38	·	especially thanks to new technology it
15:40	·	just so happens that we grew faster than
15:42	·	we died so things got relatively better
15:45	·	then sometime later as more complex
15:47	·	societies were created and trade and
15:49	·	diplomacy arose things cooled off
15:52	·	however when you look at the last 600
15:54	·	years you can see that this cooling off
15:56	·	was only very recently as it was only
15:59	·	the last 100 or so that we really
16:00	·	started to turn a new leaf with the
16:02	·	amount of conflicts starting each year
16:04	·	being on a mostly downward spiral since
16:06	·	World War I and while it may be hard to
16:09	·	believe these days we do live in an
16:11	·	extremely peaceful world compared to the
16:13	·	one they used to be and this is of
16:15	·	course reflected in our very long
16:16	·	lifespans which is over three times that
16:19	·	of the Neolithic ones and while we
16:21	·	certainly do have our very own problems
16:23	·	I for one am glad I don't have to worry
16:25	·	about skull Cults and shint takers
16:27	·	anymore at least for the for the most
16:29	·	part thanks for watching and until next
16:31	·	time onx Zoo