A massacre of early Neolithic farmers in the high Pyrenees at Els Trocs, Spain

Abstract

Violence seems deeply rooted in human nature and an endemic potential for such is today frequently associated with differing ethnic, religious or socio-economic backgrounds. Ethnic nepotism is believed to be one of the main causes of inter-group violence in multi-ethnic societies. At the site of Els Trocs in the Spanish Pyrenees, rivalling groups of either migrating early farmers or farmers and indigenous hunter-gatherers collided violently around 5300 BCE. This clash apparently resulted in a massacre of the Els Trocs farmers. The overkill reaction was possibly triggered by xenophobia or massive disputes over resources or privileges. In the present, violence and xenophobia are controlled and sanctioned through social codes of conduct and institutions. So that, rather than representing an insurmountable evolutionary inheritance, violence and ethnic nepotism can be overcome and a sustainable future achieved through mutual respect, tolerance and openness to multi-ethnic societies.

Factors affecting attitudes toward migrants—An evolutionary approach

“…However, in both cases, after the Anatolian expansion as well as after the Yamnaya spread, data indicate a resurgence of the genetic representation of the residential inhabitants: during the Middle Neolithic, hunter‐gatherer ancestry rose again after its Early Neolithic decline, and then between the Late Neolithic and the present, when farmer and hunter‐gatherer ancestry rose after its Late Neolithic decline (Haak et al, 2015). Archeological evidence indicates that the rather slow migration wave from Anatolia seems to have been less violent compared to the Yamnaya expansion, but recent data also suggest that violence also has been occurred during the Anatolian expansion (Alt et al, 2020).…”

“…Generalized ordinal mixed model of attitude toward migrants from poorer countries (1 = allow many to come, 4 = allow none to come), regressing on sex, age, highest education, attendance of religious services (1 = never, 7 = every day), political orientation (0 = left, 10 = right), and ever presence of a child in the household (0 = never, 1 = ever), interaction of sex and age, with country, ESS round, and religious denomination as random factors have been less violent compared to the Yamnaya expansion, but recent data also suggest that violence also has been occurred during the Anatolian expansion (Alt et al, 2020). From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, however, the examples of violent encounters (Jantzen et al, 2011;Wild et al, 2004) might at least partially explain why men are more skeptical toward migration.…”

Investigating Neolithic caprine husbandry in the Central Pyrenees: Insights from a multi-proxy study at Els Trocs cave (Bisaurri, Spain)

“…The floor paves the entire cave and spreads over the ashes derived from different combustion events originally placed on the orange clay sediment. In addition to the large quantities of faunal remains recovered from this occupation layer, human skeletal elements of at least nine individuals (five adults, four children), all of whom show traces of peri-and post-mortem violence, were found in secondary position [23,31] (Fig 3).…”

“…Neonatal lambs are very sensitive to temperature and humidity because of their small volume, the absence of the insulating layer of lanolin and the immaturity of the thermal regulation mechanism [92,93]. Notwithstanding, taking into account that the faunal assemblage recovered from this occupation phase results from a number of uncertain events occurring over a long period of time, including a massacre [31], we cannot exclude the deliberate slaughtering of some very young lambs as part of special practices [94], eventually related to that violent episode.…”

Manipulación de restos humanos en el Bronce Medio meseteño: el fragmento fronto-facial hallado en el yacimiento de La Huelga (Dueñas, Palencia)

“…). Hoy, el reciente estudio interdisciplinar de los restos humanos de los nueve individuos de la fase I de Els Trocs revela que corresponden a una matanza, siendo ese individuo infantil una más de las víctimas de contundentes golpes(Alt et al, 2020) b) Si en algún momento ha podido desprenderse la impresión de que el fragmento frontofacial de La Huelga fue un desecho inútil, debe recordarse inmediatamente el tipo de hallazgo, por lo que no hay pruebas para afirmar -ni para negar-que el contexto original fue un vertedero, un midden, etc. Por contra, la presencia en otros yacimientos de restos humanos secundarios en lo que parecen contextos "especiales", depósitos estructurados, etc., permitiría sugerir -también con la misma incertidumbre-la pertenencia del hallazgo de La Huelga a alguno similar, e incluso a cualquier estructura doméstica donde hubiera podido ser guardado en espera de una eventual aplicación en algún festín, práctica mortuoria, etc.…”