The Eulau eulogy: Bioarchaeological interpretation of lethal violence in Corded Ware multiple burials from Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

Meyer, Christian; Brandt, Guido; Haak, Wolfgang; Ganslmeier, Robert; Meller, Harald; Alt, Kurt W.

doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2009.07.002

Cited by 61 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The treatment of individuals from Verteba Cave may be more akin to burials at Eulau (2677–2495 cal BC), a Corded Ware culture site in Germany, where raid survivors interred the dead. Meyer et al () suggest that the careful burial of related individuals supports the notion that survivors of the invaded community buried their dead rather than the attackers. If their deaths were due to intergroup raids or warfare, it would be important to the living to retrieve the remains for ultimate burial, as they represent the social death of the individual (Weiss‐Krejci, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Violence at Verteba Cave, Ukraine: New insights into the Late Neolithic intergroup conflict

Madden

Karsten

Ledogar

et al. 2017

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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Many researchers have pointed to the huge “megasites” and construction of fortifications as evidence of intergroup hostilities among the Late Neolithic Tripolye archaeological culture. However, to date, very few skeletal remains have been analysed for the types of traumatic injury that serve as direct evidence for violent conflict. In this study, we examine trauma on human remains from the Tripolye site of Verteba Cave in western Ukraine. The remains of 36 individuals, including 25 crania, were buried in the gypsum cave as secondary interments. The frequency of cranial trauma is 30–44% among the 25 crania, 6 males, 4 females, and 1 adult of indeterminate sex displayed cranial trauma. Of the 18 total fractures, 10 were significantly large and penetrating, suggesting lethal force. Over half of the trauma is located on the posterior aspect of the crania, suggesting that the victims were attacked from behind. Sixteen of the fractures observed were perimortem and 2 were ante‐mortem. The distribution and characteristics of the fractures suggest that some of the Tripolye individuals buried at Verteba Cave were victims of a lethal surprise attack. Resources were limited due to population growth and migration, leading to conflict over resource access. It is hypothesised that during this time of change, burial in this cave aided in development of identity and ownership of the local territory.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Violence at Verteba Cave, Ukraine: New insights into the Late Neolithic intergroup conflict

Madden

Karsten

Ledogar

et al. 2017

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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“…This interpretation is reinforced by aDNA which demonstrates biological relationships between individuals placed in the same grave, including one nuclear family comprising one man, one woman and their two children (Haak et al 2008). Although the exceptional character of the site cautions against generalising this result across the entire Corded Ware Complex, it suggests a partial homology between biological, social and funerary groupings (Meyer et al 2009). Interestingly, a contrasting picture emerges from the contemporaneous nearby Bell Beaker site of Kromsdorf (Lee et al 2012).…”

Section: Genes and Third Millennium Bcmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Studies on the third millennium BC have produced insights at the sitespecific rather than continent-wide scale, drawn from analyses of the genetic diversity of the corresponding funerary populations. At Eulau (Saxony-Anhalt), archaeological excavations revealed four late Corded Ware multiple burials, all containing varying combinations of adults, males and/or females, and children (Meyer et al 2009). These unusual deposition practices, in a funerary world otherwise dominated by single graves, and the fact that several individuals exhibited signs of lethal interpersonal violence suggest that these people were the victims of a violent raid, and were carefully buried by the survivors.…”

Section: Genes and Third Millennium Bcmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population history in third-millennium-BC Europe: assessing the contribution of genetics

Linden

2016

World Archaeology

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Several recent high-profile aDNA studies have claimed to have identified major migrations during the third millennium BC in Europe. This contribution offers a brief review of these studies, and especially their role in understanding the genetic make up of modern European populations.Although the technical sophistication of aDNA studies is beyond doubt, the underlying archaeological assumptions prove relatively naive and the findings at odd with more 'traditional' archaeological data. Although the existence of past migrations needs to be acknowledged and fully considered by archaeologists, it does not offer neither a robust explanatory factor, nor an enduring platform for interdisciplinary dialogue betweeen archaeology and genetics. Alternative hypotheses are briefly explored.

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“…Their close proximity to the bones suggests that the arrowheads likely were inside the bodies when the bodies were deposited. Finds of arrowheads within body cavities are known from other Neolithic sites (29,53) and can be taken as supporting evidence of conflict. When lodged in bone, they are widely regarded as the best indicator for armed conflict (54,55).…”

Section: The Mass Grave and Its Analysismentioning

confidence: 92%

“…The significant absence of younger women in the Kilianstädten mass grave may indicate that these were taken captive by the attackers, as also has been suggested for the Asparn/Schletz site in Austria (19); ethnographic evidence attests to this practice (54,55,64). Likewise, the scarcity of teenagers among the victims could reflect their higher chances for escape in comparison with younger children or older adults (65), teenagers being possibly the most nimble demographic segment and unburdened by childcare or physical ailments (53). Alternatively, they could have been captured for forced integration into the attacker's community (60).…”

Section: Osteoarchaeological Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Meyer

Lohr

Gronenborn

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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102

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Conflict and warfare are central but also disputed themes in discussions about the European Neolithic. Although a few recent population studies provide broad overviews, only a very limited number of currently known key sites provide precise insights into moments of extreme and mass violence and their impact on Neolithic societies. The massacre sites of Talheim, Germany, and Asparn/ Schletz, Austria, have long been the focal points around which hypotheses concerning a final lethal crisis of the first Central European farmers of the Early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik Culture (LBK) have concentrated. With the recently examined LBK mass grave site of Schöneck-Kilianstädten, Germany, we present new conclusive and indisputable evidence for another massacre, adding new data to the discussion of LBK violence patterns. At least 26 individuals were violently killed by blunt force and arrow injuries before being deposited in a commingled mass grave. Although the absence and possible abduction of younger females has been suggested for other sites previously, a new violence-related pattern was identified here: the intentional and systematic breaking of lower limbs. The abundance of the identified perimortem fractures clearly indicates torture and/or mutilation of the victims. The new evidence presented here for unequivocal lethal violence on a large scale is put into perspective for the Early Neolithic of Central Europe and, in conjunction with previous results, indicates that massacres of entire communities were not isolated occurrences but rather were frequent features of the last phases of the LBK.LBK | warfare | trauma | burial | osteoarchaeology

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The Eulau eulogy: Bioarchaeological interpretation of lethal violence in Corded Ware multiple burials from Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

Cited by 61 publications

References 30 publications

Violence at Verteba Cave, Ukraine: New insights into the Late Neolithic intergroup conflict

Violence at Verteba Cave, Ukraine: New insights into the Late Neolithic intergroup conflict

Population history in third-millennium-BC Europe: assessing the contribution of genetics

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

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