An Arrowhead Injury in a Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic Human Cuneiform from the Rockshelter of La Peña de Marañón (Navarre, Spain)

Abstract

The current paper describes a projectile injury found among human remains recovered from La Peña de Marañón, a small natural rockshelter located in a limestone cliff hanging over the Ega River (Navarre, northern Spain), very close to other well-known sites with similar evidence (San Juan ante Portam Latinam, Longar, Las Yurdinas II). The site was used as burial place during the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic, and comprises a burnt bone assemblage of at least 28 individuals in a commingled state. In the process of re-examining the anthropological collection a small fragment of flint was found embedded in a right lateral cuneiform. Both macroscopic and microscopic analysis and computer tomography confirm the presence of signs of healing.No other indications of trauma were observed in the human bone sample. The finding represents the first Spanish example of a prehistoric arrowhead wound on a foot and adds to the very few other archaeological case descriptions available in Europe.

New radiocarbon dating and demographic insights into San Juan ante Portam Latinam, a possible Late Neolithic war grave in North‐Central Iberia

“…In this context, the healed violent injuries found here and in other nearby coeval sites (e.g., Armendáriz‐Martija, Irigaray & Etxeberria, ; Fernández‐Crespo, ) can be seen as lending further credence to the likelihood of recurrent and large‐scale conflict, potentially promoted by a degree of territorial circumscription and resource concentration in the Rioja Alavesa region (Fernández‐Crespo & Schulting ), which may have resulted in increased demographic pressure and heightened resource competition (cf., Carneiro, ). The results here highlight the value of considering multiple lines of evidence in the investigation of potential ‘war graves’.…”

Demographic differences between funerary caves and megalithic graves of northern Spanish Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic

“…Nevertheless, there is increasing evidence that the period also witnessed a rise in interpersonal violence (e.g. arrowhead injuries, cranial trauma, parry fractures) (Armendáriz et al, ; Etxeberria and Herrasti, ; Fernández‐Crespo, 2016) that may also be reflecting the arrival of people to the region or perhaps disclosing new socioeconomic trends, such as greater hierarchization.…”

Large-scale violence in Late Neolithic Western Europe based on expanded skeletal evidence from San Juan ante Portam Latinam

“…Grave goods are also scarce and undiagnostic. Formal weapons are absent and arrowheads found in SJAPL and in nearby sites with skeletal signs of violence including arrowhead injuries such as Longar monument, Las Yurdinas II swallet and La Peña de Marañón rockshelter, have shown notable intra-site variability in both shape (mainly foliated and rhomboidal styles) and size 14,20,41,42 with no diachronic patterning, which has also been described in many coeval violence-related contexts across Iberia 69 . These features limit finer-scale characterization of the conflict and its temporality, main causes and actors.…”

“…In this scenario, the relatively high number of healed injuries detected (59 cranial and 30 postcranial cases affecting at least 49 individuals) and their typology, generally consistent with aggression (e.g., blunt-or sharpforce cranial trauma above the HBL, arrowhead injuries, parry fractures), suggest previous violent interactions that were not fatal, within a context of recurring conflict, over a period of at least months or more probably years. The Rioja Alavesa region of north-central Iberia, where SJAPL is located, is the area of Europe with the highest absolute number of Neolithic skeletons affected by arrowhead injuries 14,41 , and those which have been dated are concentrated around 3380-3000 cal. BC [e.g., 22,42 ], i.e., the same chronology attributed to SJAPL.…”