Patterns of violence‐related skull trauma in neolithic southern scandinavia

Abstract

This article examines evidence for violence as reflected in skull injuries in 378 individuals from Neolithic Denmark and Sweden (3,900-1,700 BC). It is the first large-scale crossregional study of skull trauma in southern Scandinavia, documenting skeletal evidence of violence at a population level. We also investigate the widely assumed hypothesis that Neolithic violence is male-dominated and results in primarily male injuries and fatalities. Considering crude prevalence and prevalence for individual bones of the skull allows for a more comprehensive understanding of interpersonal violence in the region, which is characterized by endemic levels of mostly nonlethal violence that affected both men and women. Crude prevalence for skull trauma reaches 9.4% in the Swedish and 16.9% in the Danish sample, whereas element-based prevalence varies between 6.2% for the right frontal and 0.6% for the left maxilla, with higher figures in the Danish sample. Significantly more males are affected by healed injuries but perimortem injuries affect males and females equally. These results suggest habitual male involvement in nonfatal violence but similar risks for both sexes for sustaining fatal injuries. In the Danish sample, a bias toward front and left-side injuries and right-side injuries in females support this scenario of differential involvement in habitual interpersonal violence, suggesting gendered differences in active engagement in conflict. It highlights the importance of large-scale studies for investigating the scale and context of violence in early agricultural societies, and the existence of varied regional patterns for overall injury prevalence as well as gendered differences in violence-related injuries.

Identifying and Interpreting Domestic Violence in Archaeological Human Remains: A Critical Review of the Evidence

“…Walker, ), but without interpreting these results in their specific socio‐cultural context, misleading conclusions can be drawn (i.e. Fibiger et al ., ).…”

The massacre mass grave of Schöneck-Kilianstädten reveals new insights into collective violence in Early Neolithic Central Europe

“…Instead, the overall patterning of perimortem fracture zones was analyzed per cranial element for subadults and adults separately. The highest percentage of traumatized bone was found in the left parietal for both groups, a classic location for blows delivered in face-to-face confrontations during interpersonal violence (60,61). Injuries to the other larger cranial elements are prevalent as well (Table 1).…”

Below the Callus Surface: Applying Paleohistological Techniques to Understand the Biology of Bone Healing in Skeletonized Human Remains

“…As nowadays, injury has also played a significant role in past human societies, a role that can be accessed through a careful analysis of the skeletal remains [2]. Bone injury, resulting from interpersonal violence or associated with the hazards of daily life, is frequently reported in the paleopathological literature as a useful tool to decipher past behaviors and health conditions [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. The prevalence and distribution of fractures constitute the marker most commonly investigated [15,16,17,18,19,20].…”