Somerset Bronze Age massacre victims likely cannibalised | Global News Avenue

Scientists have discovered the aftermath of an “extraordinarily violent” attack in Somerset around 4,000 years ago, when at least 37 people appeared to be slaughtered and possibly eaten.

It is the largest incident of human-on-human violence discovered in the early Bronze Age of Britain, which was considered a time of peace.

In the 1970s, cavers discovered the victims’ bones. Experts believe they were thrown into the 15m-deep shaft by prehistoric raiders.

Rick Schulting, a professor at Oxford University, said the massacre may have been motivated by a strong “desire for revenge” and its impact could be “passed from generation to generation.”

He said eating the victims may have been a ritual to “dehumanize” them and send a message by “insulting the remains”.

A team of archaeologists analyzed around 3,000 bone fragments found in the Charterhouse Warren cave system in the Mendip Hills in Somerset.

They believe at least 37 people died, including men, women and children. About half of the victims were teenagers and older children.

Early Bronze Age villages in Britain had around 50 to 100 people, so experts believe this could amount to wiping out almost an entire community.

The Bronze Age in Britain lasted from approximately 2500-2000 BC to 800 BC and was a period when bronze replaced stone in making tools and weapons. New agricultural methods were developed and large permanent farms were created.

There was no evidence of any counterattack in the newly discovered attack, suggesting the victims were blindsided.

Scratches and cuts on the bones suggest the attackers used stone tools to systematically dismember and possibly eat their victims.

Professor Schulting said: “If we see these marks on the bones of animals, we have no doubt that they were butchered.”

Scientists do not believe the attackers ate the remains out of hunger, as the fragments were found next to animal bones, suggesting there was plenty of food there.

The mass mutilation of corpses was the first documented case of this era.

There is limited evidence that the tensions of this era were caused by competition for resources.

This has led experts to suspect that the violence is caused by a severe breakdown in relationships.

Professor Schulting said: “This is an extraordinary thing. This level of almost erasing a person, literally cutting them into pieces, seems to be done only when fueled by anger, fear and resentment. “

One theory, he said, is that someone did “something terrible and in the eyes of the person who did it, it was justified.”

Professor Schulting added: “This was not a murderous maniac. This was a group of people who came together to do this to another community.”

He said perhaps a culture of honor led to the attack.

Professor Schulting said: “If you feel wronged, ultimately you have a responsibility to take action. You can’t go to a magistrate and ask for action.”

He believes this looks like a situation where “things are spiraling out of control and normal checks and balances have failed.”

This may be because a particularly hostile person doesn’t “calm things down” or “has an agenda.”

“If you have people like this on both sides of a conflict, the conflict will start to get out of hand,” he suggested.

Experts generally agree that Early Bronze Age England was not particularly violent because very limited evidence of conflict has been found.

There is no evidence of weapons such as swords or of fortifications that communities needed to protect themselves.

Professor Schulting said that prior to this discovery, only around 10 victims of violent attacks from this period had been identified.

Scientists said they did not believe it was a one-off attack because “there would be repercussions.”

“But at some point, cooler heads may prevail and people get on with their lives and regain some sense of normalcy,” Professor Schulting said.

He warned that the attack should not be seen as a sign of a past that had been “particularly brutal and bloody” or that “we have now moved beyond that”.

“I hope it gives us some insight into human nature beyond the Bronze Age,” he added.

The research was published in the academic journal Antiquity.