A large mass grave from the Early Iron Age indicates selective violence towards women and children in the Carpathian Basin

[Tautalus]

Abstract
Narratives about the motivations and conditions for mass violence as a persistent feature of conflict throughout human history have evolved in complexity and materiality. Victims of these events are key for understanding the evolution and transformative power of violent behaviour as it developed from simple intergroup conflict to more strategic mass violence. Here we present the results of a bioarchaeological study of 77 and biomolecular analysis of 25 individuals from a ninth-century BCE mass grave from Gomolava in the Carpathian Basin, Southeast Europe. The site is located at the interface of complex sociospatial relations, divergent cultural traditions and values, and competing ideologies of landscape use. We show that excessive lethal violence enacted mostly on women and children suggests a selective demographic bias. The people buried together shared few, even distant, genetic relationships, and so their killing presents striking evidence for an episode of cross-regional conflict and an underlying aggressive shift in power, violence and gender relations in the region. Gomolava provides evidence consistent with deliberate annihilation of select sections of a regional population as a motivation for mass violence behaviour in later prehistoric Europe. It also shines new light on the socioeconomic agency and importance of women and young individuals in later European prehistory.

A large mass grave from the Early Iron Age indicates selective violence towards women and children in the Carpathian Basin - Nature Human Behaviour

In this analysis of biomolecular and archaeological data from a ninth-century BCE mass grave in the Carpathian Basin, Fibiger et al. find evidence for the targeted killing of mostly unrelated women and children, challenging views of prehistoric violence.

www.nature.com

Ancestry of the Gomolava individuals

Haplogroups

Sample Name	Individual	Haplogroup	Sex	Y-Chr Hg	Y-Chr Hg_marker	Y-Chr Major clade
TFS001	Sk8	H1at	XX
TFS002	Sk18	N1a1a1a	XX
TFS003	Sk24	T2b19	XX
TFS004	Sk26	H63	XY	R-BY251	BY251	R1b
TFS005	Sk32	H23	XX
TFS006	Sk33	H1at	XX
TFS007	Sk36	T2e+152	XX
TFS008	Sk41	H5a2	XX
TFS009	Sk42	K1a5b	XX
TFS010	Sk46	H1	XX
TFS011	Sk53	T2b	XX
TFS012	Sk60	T2b+152	XX
TFS013	Sk61	H	XY	R-BY20217*(xY132099,Y170300,FT407478)	Y150900	R1b
TFS014	Sk70	H26c	XX
TFS015	Sk72	U5b1c2	XY	R-Y19423	Y21291	R1b
TFS016	Sk74	U2e1b	XX
TFS017	Sk4	T2b	XX
TFS018	Sk14	H1at	XX
TFS019	Sk16	H	XX
TFS020	Sk22	H5a	XX
TFS021	Sk23	H11a	XX
TFS022	Sk50	H5a6	XX
TFS023	Sk51	H35	Not Assigned
TFS024	Sk52	T2b+152	XX
TFS025	Sk54	K1a4a1a2	XX
TFS026	Sk56	U5a1b	XY	R-CTS1450*(xY18959)	Y5590;Y5591	R1b
TFS027	Sk69	H63	XX

 

[MOESAN]

Abstract
Narratives about the motivations and conditions for mass violence as a persistent feature of conflict throughout human history have evolved in complexity and materiality. Victims of these events are key for understanding the evolution and transformative power of violent behaviour as it developed from simple intergroup conflict to more strategic mass violence. Here we present the results of a bioarchaeological study of 77 and biomolecular analysis of 25 individuals from a ninth-century BCE mass grave from Gomolava in the Carpathian Basin, Southeast Europe. The site is located at the interface of complex sociospatial relations, divergent cultural traditions and values, and competing ideologies of landscape use. We show that excessive lethal violence enacted mostly on women and children suggests a selective demographic bias. The people buried together shared few, even distant, genetic relationships, and so their killing presents striking evidence for an episode of cross-regional conflict and an underlying aggressive shift in power, violence and gender relations in the region. Gomolava provides evidence consistent with deliberate annihilation of select sections of a regional population as a motivation for mass violence behaviour in later prehistoric Europe. It also shines new light on the socioeconomic agency and importance of women and young individuals in later European prehistory.



Ancestry of the Gomolava individuals

Haplogroups

Sample Name	Individual	Haplogroup	Sex	HY-Chr g	HY-Chr Hg_marker	HY-Chr Major clade
TFS001	Sk8	H1at	XX
TFS002	Sk18	N1a1a1a	XX
TFS003	Sk24	T2b19	XX
TFS004	Sk26	H63	XY	R-BY251	BY251	R1b
TFS005	Sk32	H23	XX
TFS006	Sk33	H1at	XX
TFS007	Sk36	T2e+152	XX
TFS008	Sk41	H5a2	XX
TFS009	Sk42	K1a5b	XX
TFS010	Sk46	H1	XX
TFS011	Sk53	T2b	XX
TFS012	Sk60	T2b+152	XX
TFS013	Sk61	H	XY	R-BY20217*(xY132099,Y170300,FT407478)	Y150900	R1b
TFS014	Sk70	H26c	XX
TFS015	Sk72	U5b1c2	XY	R-Y19423	Y21291	R1b
TFS016	Sk74	U2e1b	XX
TFS017	Sk4	T2b	XX
TFS018	Sk14	H1at	XX
TFS019	Sk16	H	XX
TFS020	Sk22	H5a	XX
TFS021	Sk23	H11a	XX
TFS022	Sk50	H5a6	XX
TFS023	Sk51	H35	Not Assigned
TFS024	Sk52	T2b+152	XX
TFS025	Sk54	K1a4a1a2	XX
TFS026	Sk56	U5a1b	XY	R-CTS1450*(xY18959)	Y5590;Y5591	R1b
TFS027	Sk69	H63	XX

I haven't read the full survey but in the few we have above I don't know how they can go to so pecise cultural or social conclusions...

 

[MOESAN]

Abstract
Narratives about the motivations and conditions for mass violence as a persistent feature of conflict throughout human history have evolved in complexity and materiality. Victims of these events are key for understanding the evolution and transformative power of violent behaviour as it developed from simple intergroup conflict to more strategic mass violence. Here we present the results of a bioarchaeological study of 77 and biomolecular analysis of 25 individuals from a ninth-century BCE mass grave from Gomolava in the Carpathian Basin, Southeast Europe. The site is located at the interface of complex sociospatial relations, divergent cultural traditions and values, and competing ideologies of landscape use. We show that excessive lethal violence enacted mostly on women and children suggests a selective demographic bias. The people buried together shared few, even distant, genetic relationships, and so their killing presents striking evidence for an episode of cross-regional conflict and an underlying aggressive shift in power, violence and gender relations in the region. Gomolava provides evidence consistent with deliberate annihilation of select sections of a regional population as a motivation for mass violence behaviour in later prehistoric Europe. It also shines new light on the socioeconomic agency and importance of women and young individuals in later European prehistory.



Ancestry of the Gomolava individuals

Haplogroups

Sample Name	Individual	Haplogroup	Sex	HY-Chr g	HY-Chr Hg_marker	HY-Chr Major clade
TFS001	Sk8	H1at	XX
TFS002	Sk18	N1a1a1a	XX
TFS003	Sk24	T2b19	XX
TFS004	Sk26	H63	XY	R-BY251	BY251	R1b
TFS005	Sk32	H23	XX
TFS006	Sk33	H1at	XX
TFS007	Sk36	T2e+152	XX
TFS008	Sk41	H5a2	XX
TFS009	Sk42	K1a5b	XX
TFS010	Sk46	H1	XX
TFS011	Sk53	T2b	XX
TFS012	Sk60	T2b+152	XX
TFS013	Sk61	H	XY	R-BY20217*(xY132099,Y170300,FT407478)	Y150900	R1b
TFS014	Sk70	H26c	XX
TFS015	Sk72	U5b1c2	XY	R-Y19423	Y21291	R1b
TFS016	Sk74	U2e1b	XX
TFS017	Sk4	T2b	XX
TFS018	Sk14	H1at	XX
TFS019	Sk16	H	XX
TFS020	Sk22	H5a	XX
TFS021	Sk23	H11a	XX
TFS022	Sk50	H5a6	XX
TFS023	Sk51	H35	Not Assigned
TFS024	Sk52	T2b+152	XX
TFS025	Sk54	K1a4a1a2	XX
TFS026	Sk56	U5a1b	XY	R-CTS1450*(xY18959)	Y5590;Y5591	R1b
TFS027	Sk69	H63	XX

I haven't read the full survey but in the few we have above I don't know how they can go to so pecise cultural or social conclusions...