A set of massacred skeletons in a lake in Kenya show that human nature is all about resources, archaeologists say

The skeleton of a man found lying prone in the sediments of a lagoon in Nataruk, Kenya. The skull has multiple lesions on the front and on the left side which archaeologists say are consistent with wounds from a blunt implement such as a club© Marta Mirazon Lahr, enhanced by Fabio Lahr
The chances of discovering these kind of prehistoric battle remains – and, in turn, drawing conclusions about whether populations have always been prone to war – is remote in the absence of cemeteries and settlements in areas like Nataruk.

This skeleton had an obsidian bladelet embedded into the left side of his skull. A projectile lesion, possibly of a sharpened arrow shaft, was on the right side© Marta Mirazon Lahr
“That first skull that we saw, the back of it was actually lying prone on its belly,” she recalls. “The face was buried in the sediments.

Partial excavations of the area with the sieving of sediments in the background© Marta Mirazon Lahr
“The mouth moved, but only the top, not the bottom. In doing so, he cracked the neck. That man just fell, he lay. And as he fell in the lake, he remained.

This skull has multiple lesions on the front and left side© Marta Mirazon Lahr, enhanced by Fabio Lahr
“When we got to the head and cleaned it, it had the head of an arrow stuck on the head.”

© Marta Mirazon Lahr, enhanced by Fabio Lahr
The lake site, to the west, is a new addition to the scene, providing a vivid picture of the late Pleistocene and early Holocene periods, when its surface was much larger. Its bones could cast aspersions on humanity’s historical capacity for conflict.

© Marta Mirazon Lahr
“The reason the issue is disputed is that among hunter-gatherer – or what are called small-scale – societies today, inter-societal warfare is rare. Some scholars argue that it was not part of what people did in antiquity.

A perforating lesion, consistent with an arrow wound, was left on this neck vertebrae© Marta Mirazon Lahr
Women, water and access to game and fish are the “resources” which might have been fought over, believes Professor Robert Foley, an expert on human evolution who was part of the travelling team.

This skeleton was that of a woman, found reclining on her left elbow with fractures on the knees and possibly the left foot© Marta Mirazon Lahr
“Some may be surprised that it shows a violent past. Others may feel that it confirms their views that human nature can be violent and aggressive. In practice it’s neither.

Dr Marta Mirazon Lahr and Justus Edung at the end of the excavation of the woman© Robert Foley
The first farms, rather than established civilizations and nations, might have sparked a culture of defence and attack.

The position of the woman's hands suggests her wrists may have been bound. She was found surrounded by fish© Marta Mirazon Lahr, enhanced by Fabio Lahr
“I’ve no doubt it is in our biology to be aggressive and lethal, just as it is to be deeply caring and loving. A lot of what we understand about human evolutionary biology suggests these are two sides of the same coin.”
- Visit in-africa.org and read the report in the journal Nature for more.
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© Marta Mirazon Lahr, enhanced by Fabio Lahr
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