World's Earliest Murder Uncovered in the Remains of an Ancient Skull

The oldest known murder may have been uncovered. Researchers have examined the lethal wound found on a human skull that's 430,000 years old and may have been inflicted by another individual.

The skull itself was discovered at the archaeological site of the Sima de los Huesos in northern Spain. The site itself is located deep within an underground cave system and contains the remains of at least 28 individuals that date to around430,000 years ago, during the Middle Pleistocene time period. The only access to the site is through a 13-meter deep vertical shaft. Exactly how the bodies were transported to this location still remains a mystery.

In this case, the scientists took a closer look at a nearly complete skull, dubbed Cranium 17. It consists of 52 cranial fragments that were recovered during excavations. The skull itself shows evidence of two penetrating lesions on the frontal bone above the left eye.

In order to investigate this would a bit further, the researchers relied on modern forensic techniques, such as contour and trajectory analysis of the traumas. This revealed that both fractures were likely produced by two separate impacts by the same object, with slightly different trajectories around the time of the individual's death. It's unlikely that the injuries are the result of an accidental fall down the vertical shaft. Instead, it's likely someone hit the individual with something; in other words, the person was murdered.

"This is really good evidence for an intentional role for humans in the accumulation of bodies at the bottom of this pit and suggests the hominins from this time period were already engaging in complex cognitive behaviors" said Rolf Quam, one of the researchers, in a news release.

The findings reveal a bit more about this site and show that this individual was murdered. Why this person was killed, though, remains a mystery.

The findings are published in the journal PLOS One.

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