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

Around 10,000 years ago, at a spot near Nataruk, a group of Kenyan hunter-gatherers massacred a small band of foragers with such venom that they left blunt-force trauma on the skulls, cheekbones, hands, necks, knees and ribs of their victims.

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.

But these skeletons have been preserved by the shallow waters of the lagoon they fell or were dumped in – at least 27 surfaced, a dozen of which were partially complete in situ, according to Dr Marta Mirazón Lahr, one of the leaders of the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies team which excavated the bodies.

“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.

“When we removed the face we saw that it was all crushed. The lesions are very clear that it was a sharp force, blunt instrument that hit him in the front of the face so hard that part of his skull was pushed inwards and the back part came outwards.

“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.

“Another one was cemented in lake sentiment – very, very hard to get out. Again he was lying prone with the feet higher than the head.

“When we got to the head and cleaned it, it had the head of an arrow stuck on the head.”

Turkana is one of the most important sites of human discoveries in the world. The most complete early human skeleton ever found, in 1984, was named Turkana Boy after his home (his alias is Nariokotome Boy.)

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.

“There’s a big debate in the literature about how old warfare, or intergroup aggression, is,” says Dr 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.

“One would say the only thing you have to do is actually find the remains of warfare, and if there are no remains of warfare it means it wasn’t there. We have an instance, a glimpse of something very rare to preserve.”

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.

“Perhaps in Nataruk’s case it might be all of those,” he thinks. “Nataruk is so critical, because it shows that hunter-gatherers did engage in something very similar to war.

“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.

“Just like any other society, there’s always competition for resources. Even though they may not own property there are still things to fight for.”

The first farms, rather than established civilizations and nations, might have sparked a culture of defence and attack.

“Humans have a history that is both full of warfare and co-operation and sacrifice,” says Professor Foley.

“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

Three places to discover prehistory in

Mid-Antrim Museum, County Antrim
The permanent History Gallery tells the story of mid-Antrim from earliest times to the present day, wrapped in its national and international context.

Palace Green Library, Durham
The permanent exhibition, Living on the Hills - 10,000 years of Durham, uses objects from the Museum of Archaeology and across Durham University and other regional museums to explore the last 10,000 years of the region.

Plymouth Arts Centre
The First Humans looks at contemporary art with a prehistoric feel, asking if dramatic new archaeological findings can explain it the distant past. Until April 2 2016.