The scapula of Shanidara, a Neanderthal who died ~75,000 years ago at Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan, has a near-perfectly round hole 15 mm across. Lead author Dr Emma Pomeroy of Cambridge says a sharpened wooden spear likely passed through his chest and out through the shoulder blade — possibly the earliest such lethal injury known. She stresses it's uncertain, and it could have been friendly fire. Chris Stringer leans toward a rival attack. 🦴
Round hole in 75,000-year-old Neanderthal scapula at Shanidar Cave read as spear wound
IraqBioarchaeologyNew Research
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Key facts
- A Neanderthal individual known as Shanidara, one of at least ten excavated at Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan in the 1950s, died about 75,000 years ago
- Recovered with his left shoulder blade were his right hand, three ribs and some teeth; the scapula carries a near-perfectly round hole 15 mm in diameter
- Lead author Dr Emma Pomeroy of Cambridge's Department of Archaeology says the wound angle suggests a sharpened wooden spear entered through the chest, probably damaging a lung and major blood vessels, and exited through the left shoulder blade
- Pomeroy told the BBC it may have been an intended heart shot and the earliest case of lethal interpersonal violence with such a weapon, and would be the first evidence for sharpened wooden spears in the prehistoric Middle East; she stresses violence is by no means certain and it could have been friendly fire during a hunt
- Experimental thrusts of reconstructed wooden spears into bone produced similar round holes, and the circular shape is unlike the break expected from natural damage
- Chris Stringer of London's Natural History Museum, not involved in the study, told the BBC he thinks attack by a rival is more plausible given the positioning and extent of the wound
- A 1957 find from the same cave described another Neanderthal who lived around 50,000 years ago with a partly healed rib injury probably caused by a stone-tipped spear
- The authors say these cases add to a growing body of evidence that human-on-human violence was more common and goes back further than many scientists once thought
Sources
What Was Going on at Shanidar? Another Neanderthal ...haaretz.com
The left scapula of Shanidar A, showing the proposed fatal spear wound Credit: University of Cambridge. Ruth Schuster. Follow.
Fatal Neanderthal wound may be earliest evidence of a ...phys.org
Fatal Neanderthal wound may be earliest evidence of a wooden spear attack on a human ancestor ... The left scapula of Shanidar A, photographed in ...
Fatal Neanderthal wound may provide earliest evidence of ...cenieh.es
a circular wound in the shoulder blade of a 75,000-year-old Neanderthal from the Middle East may have been caused by a wooden spear,
Fatal wound could be the earliest evidence of our ...scimex.org
The team say tiny bone shards knocked out of place by the spear indicate the spear entered from above on a downward trajectory. News release.
Fatal wound in 75000-year-old Neanderthal shoulder ...archaeologymag.com
A hole in a Neanderthal shoulder blade from Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan may be the earliest known deadly wooden spear wound.
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