Archaeologists have identified what may be one of the earliest documented cases of fatal interpersonal violence in the hominin fossil record. The discovery centers on a Neanderthal shoulder blade unearthed in a cave in Iraqi Kurdistan, which contains a small, perfectly circular opening measuring 15 millimeters across. Researchers from the University of Cambridge, who conducted the excavation, believe the hole was created by a sharpened wooden spear that entered through the individual’s left chest, passed through vital organs including a lung and major blood vessels, and exited through the back of the shoulder blade. The opening’s rounded shape and beveled edges are consistent with a wooden weapon rather than one tipped with flint or stone, which would produce more angular openings. Analysis of small bone fragments displaced by the impact indicates the weapon traveled downward through the body, suggesting a deliberate strike potentially aimed at the heart.
The remains, designated Shanidar A after the cave location, represent an unusually well-preserved specimen. The shoulder blade is an exceptionally fragile bone, yet it survived approximately 75,000 years beneath seven and a half meters of rock and sediment with nearly complete integrity. Researchers were able to extract the bone as a single piece and use subtle muscle attachment ridges to reconstruct the area around the wound. Such a severe chest injury would have caused rapid death, according to the research team.
The findings raise questions about whether the wound resulted from deliberate violence or a hunting accident. While researchers acknowledge that fatal injuries could occur during close-range hunting of large animals with thrusting spears, certain characteristics of the wound suggest intentional attack. The position and force required to penetrate completely through the body are consistent with a targeted kill shot, though definitive determination of the circumstances remains impossible. The research team considers violence between Neanderthals the most straightforward explanation given available evidence, noting that systematic violence is extremely rare in deep prehistory.
The discovery also provides context regarding ancient weapon technology. Archaeological evidence shows that sharpened wooden spears were used for hundreds of thousands of years, though wooden artifacts rarely survive. Notable examples include spears recovered from Schöningen, Germany, dating back approximately 200,000 years, and an even older pointed wooden fragment from Clacton-on-Sea in the United Kingdom, identified as part of a spear more than 400,000 years old. The Cambridge researchers believe comparable technology could account for Shanidar A’s injury and may represent the first evidence of wooden spear use in the prehistoric Middle East.
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