A large secret grave found in Croatia contains the skeleton of men, women and children who were not murdered 6,200 years ago
- Forty-one skeletons were found in a large tomb in Potočani, Croatia
- Experts have found that the people are from the same society but largely unconnected
- Bones were restored to the Copper Age Lasinja culture 6,200 years ago
- It is not yet known why they were killed but researchers say population or climate change may have caused conflict.
A large secret tomb has been discovered by archaeologists in Croatia.
The 6.5-foot-wide, three-foot-deep pit contains the remains of 41 people murdered about 6,200 years ago.
The cause of the killing is not yet known but researchers say the bloody event may have been caused by growing numbers or climate change.
They also add that senseless murder and ‘unparalleled massacre’ is a horror that is not just a feature of modern and historical times’.
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The 41 victims were then thrown into a pit three feet (one meter) deep and six feet (two meters) wide. Bones and pottery remains were brought to the Copper Age Lasinja culture that spanned Croatia, Slovenia, and parts of Bosnia, Hungary, and Austria
A genetic study of the skeletons found at Potočani, Croatia, revealed that 21 males and 20 females were involved, with people aged two to 50 years.
While some of the people were related – father, two daughters and nephew; two young daughters and their cousin; father and teenage son; a young boy and his aunt – the pit was all made up of unrelated people.
They all died at the same time and belonged to a large farming population of up to 75,000 people who had lived in the area for centuries.
Injuries, a cranial wound injured a force in two individuals from Potočani that occurred at the time of death. Top: 11-17 year old boy. Below: young adult woman
In the photo, three perimortem entering an injury to the right skull of a young adult female from Potočani. The skulls of six children, three adult males and four adult females suffered the same head injury sustained with a combination of weapons, revealing one incident of execution, the researchers say
The scientists found that the site meets their criteria for murder, defined as an act of deliberate murder of a mass of people who were not ready to fight, with the killing committed with a group ‘.
The 41 victims were then thrown into a pit three feet (one meter) deep and six feet (two meters) wide.
Bones and pottery from the pit were returned to the Copper Age Lasinja culture that spanned Croatia, Slovenia, and parts of Bosnia, Hungary, and Austria.
The society was one of farmers, who tended to depend on cattle for their livelihood.
In the picture, a partially reconstructed ceramic jug, similar to Lasinja culture in the Middle Copper Age, found in Potočani’s large burial
The skulls of six children, three adult males and four adult females suffered the same head injury sustained with a combination of weapons, revealing one incident of execution, the researchers say.
With so few of the relatives, the experts argue that the massacre was not a targeted attack on specific families.
This also shows that the ‘murder’ was not the result of an interfaith fighting that would be expected at battles ’or punitive killings for perceived misunderstanding.
While unable to give a definitive explanation of how these 41 people achieved their tragic end, the researchers say the two most likely causes of the murder air were ‘bad climate weather’ and a thriving population.
‘The data show how organized violence in this age can be non-discriminatory just as non-discriminatory killing has been an important feature if life is in historical and prehistoric times. ‘
‘Large-scale violence has been present in human societies for the last 13,000 years,’ wrote the researcher in his study, published today in PLOS ONE.