Thanks george76.
Posted on 07/20/2025 12:10:05 PM PDT by george76
In a discovery shedding light on prehistoric human conflict, archaeologists have found a flint arrowhead embedded in a human rib dating back more than 4,000 years. The remains were unearthed at Roc de les Orenetes, a high-altitude collective burial site in the Catalan Pyrenees (northeast Spain), situated over 1,800 meters above sea level.
This exceptional find—revealing direct evidence of interpersonal violence—was made during recent excavations led by Dr. Carlos Tornero from the IPHES-CERCA and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
This discovery provides a rare, tangible glimpse into the social tensions within early highland communities of the third millennium BCE. It stands as direct, almost forensic proof of interpersonal conflict—highlighting the critical value of archaeological research in uncovering not just how these people lived, but how they responded to violence and adversity.
A Violent Encounter in Prehistoric Times..
The arrow, shot from behind, struck a rib but didn’t kill the individual immediately. Instead, the bone showed signs of healing, suggesting the person survived the attack, at least temporarily. According to osteoarchaeologist Dr. Miguel Ángel Moreno (University of Edinburgh), this opens new possibilities for studying trauma, weapon types, and even the attacker’s position relative to the victim.
Further analysis is underway using X-ray microtomography and advanced biochemical techniques to learn more about the impact and healing processes.
...
A Burial Cave Tied to a Close-Knit Mountain Community
Roc de les Orenetes served as a burial site for over 60 individuals between 2200–2000 BCE, likely members of the same community. Excavations since 2019 have recovered more than 6,000 human bone fragments. The skeletal remains suggest a population of robust, physically active herders, deeply adapted to life in the mountains.
Earlier studies had already identified cut marks, fractures, and weapon-related injuries, but until now, it wasn’t clear whether the weapons had actually struck people or were simply grave goods. This embedded arrowhead offers the first unambiguous evidence of a violent encounter.
A Site of Ongoing Discovery..
First discovered in the 1960s, the cave has a long archaeological history. It was recently revitalized as part of the ARRELS/RAÍCES Prehistoric Roots Project, supported by the Catalan government, the town of Queralbs, and the Ripoll Ethnographic Museum.
...
The site is now considered one of the most important prehistoric high-mountain cemeteries in southern Europe—providing an unprecedented window into the lives, struggles, and resilience of early Pyrenean societies.
This is a shock to some people? Just because the combatants aren’t using AK47s, doesn’t mean people did not fight over food, women, and children.
Human beings are nasty creatures. We’ve been domesticated.
Civilization is just a thin veneer over savagery.
4,000-Year-Old Flint Arrow Lodged in Human Rib Reveals Direct Evidence of Prehistoric Violence
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Shocking!!! People were violent 4000 years ago - who knew?
If ancient humans held a courtroom for this, it would be the first case of “Arrowful Intent.”
Archaeologists uncovered the ultimate ancient breakup message: “This is not working out — literally.”
Turns out, early highland community meetings weren’t just debates, they were pointedly violent discussions.
Imagine explaining that injury at the prehistoric doctor's office: “Doc, I tripped over a stone…actually, it stabbed me.”
The real takeaway? Humans have been throwing shade — and arrows — at each other for millennia.
Early humans putting the "point" in interpersonal conflict since 2000 BCE.
Wanna hear the oldest joke discovered? It’s about a wife who’s been blind in one eye for 20 years, and the husband only just noticed — talk about selective vision! Seems like blame and marital disputes go way back too
Arrow to the rib? Sounds like a prehistoric way of saying, Let's not spear your feelings too hard!
Best to consult our makers handbook on the human condition….human behavior will never change- right up to “ the End”.
Thanks george76.
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Been lodged in there for 4000 years?
That wound has got to be infected by now…
Maybe Dick Cheney was his hunting partner?
So,,, it does not take a gun to murder- kill each other, duh!
Don’t run with an arrow in your hand,
It was a hunting accident. It happens.
Since human societies in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, North and South America and Oceania all have a long history of violence, violence must have been common to people since before Homo sapiens spread from Africa to other continents. Perhaps there is a connection between violence between human beings and violence between human beings and animals (as in hunting).
I have often seen on FB pages about American Indians that they did not kill, scalp, torture, cut people into pieces until the White Man arrived to show them how to do it. Problem is I have dozens of links to massacres in the New World long before the White Man was around to blame it on. Here are just a few.
How the tribes treated each other before the White Man arrived.
https://archive.news.wsu.edu/press-release/2014/08/04/wsu-researchers-see-violent-era-in-ancient-southwest/#.U9_iumNjYzJ
https://www.science20.com/news_articles/the_most_violent_era_in_america_was_before_europeans_arrived-141847
Who invented Scalping?
https://www.americanheritage.com/who-invented-scalping
http://www.dickshovel.com/scalp.html
Last days of the ancient Pueblos.
https://blairmastbaum.substack.com/p/the-terrifying-final-days-of-the
Crow Creek Massacre.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/9/crow-creek-massacre-in-1300s-remains-south-dakotas/
https://www.academia.edu/7907221/Mass_Grave_at_Crow_Creek_in_South_Dakota_Reveals_How_Indians_Massacred_Indians_in_14th_Century_Attack
Sacred Ridge Massacre.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/massacre-sacred-ridge
The Genocide Pit in Sacred Ridge, Colorado
https://strangesounds.org/2019/08/scary-archeology-genocide-pit-sacred-ridge-colorado.html
Ancient Massacre Discovered in New Mexico — Was It Genocide?
https://lostworlds.org/ancient-massacre-discovered-in-new-mexico-was-it-genocide/
The Gallina of New Mexico: a culture of violence?
https://mountainscholar.org/items/22dafb20-e69e-40c9-96cf-ddcdb14fff0f
Humans are violent. Who’d a thunk?
Ever since the fall, humans have invented many ways of killing.
I never would have believed in pre-historic violence if it were not for this evidence.
Have the police been notified?
I have it on good authority that a man named Cain slew his brother Able over 4000 years ago in a fit of jealous rage. .
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