An international team of scientists have compiled data from studies of human remains in 180 archaeological sites in Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, and Sweden, dated between around 8000 – 4000 years ago – believed to be the time when farming replaced hunter-gathering in Europe. They found evidence of many head injuries from blunt instruments and stone axes, and some evidence of penetrating injuries that could have been from arrows.
The research team concluded: “Compiling data from various sources, it becomes apparent that violence was endemic in Neolithic Europe, sometimes reaching levels of intergroup hostilities that ended in the utter destruction of entire communities.”
One of the researchers, Martin Smith, of Bournemouth University’s Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, commented: “The study raises the question as to why violence seems to have been so prevalent during this period. The most plausible explanation may be that the economic base of society had changed. With farming came inequality and those who fared less successfully appear at times to have engaged in raiding and collective violence as an alternative strategy for success, with the results now increasingly being recognized archaeologically.”
The researchers also wrote in their summary: “The further development of contextual information is paramount in order to address hypotheses on the motivations, origins, and evolution of violence as based on the study of human remains, the most direct indicator for actual small- and large-scale violence.”
References: SciTechDaily 21 February 2023, PNAS 17 January 2023 doi: 10.1073/pnas.2209481119
Editorial Comment: If scientists really want “contextual information” as to the motivations and origins on violence and warfare they won’t find it in archaeological sites. These only reveal the results of violence and war.
The origins and motivations are revealed the recorded history of mankind in Genesis, which tells us the first violent death occurred within one generation after sin entered the world. (See Genesis 4) After Adam sinned all humanity has been corrupted by sin, and the results are often violent, as happened with Adam’s son Cain. That had nothing to do with economics – Cain and his brother were equally rich.
Economic inequalities can be an immediate motivation for violence and strife in any society, but the real problem is the innate sinful nature in every human being who has lived since our first parents rebelled against our Creator. As the Apostle Paul stated, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans3:23)
The good news is that the last Adam, Jesus Christ, has died to pay the penalty for that sin, and rose from the dead to give new life to all who repent and put their trust in Jesus. If you do that you can look forward to living forever in a new world where there is no violence, suffering or death. See Revelation 21-22.
Creation Research News 3 March 2023
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