Violence and aggression in humans are apparently prevalent since prehistoric times, where new findings reveal 10,000 year old skeleton remains, suggesting evidence of a grisly, horrific death.
Scientists conducted an expedition in Nataruk near Lake Turkana in Kenya, Africa where they uncovered some fossilized bones of 27 hunter gatherers who died from extreme torture and violent deaths when they were slaughtered.
One of the victims was a fully pregnant woman bearing a six to nine month old fetus along with three other individuals who were bound together by their hands and feet when they were brutally murdered. Other remains still contain blades and arrows that were pierced deep into their skulls.
This gruesome massacre occurred during the beginning of the Holocene period, which is a geological epoch following the last Ice Age. The 27 skeletons involved at least eight women and six children as well.
Twelve bodies appear to be more or less whole, suggesting smashed skulls, broken ribs, hands and knees and arrow punctures on necks and arrow heads still embedded in skulls and chests. None of the bodies were buried where evidence suggests that they were hit hard by weapons such as clubs.
This new evidence now indicate the earliest evidence of human warfare where researchers from the University of Cambridge suggest that prehistoric hunter gatherers are extremely violent, who were once thought to be peaceful before the agricultural revolution. Prior to this discovery, the earliest war grave was dated back to 5,000 B.C. in Darmstadt, Germany.
According to co-author of the study, Robert Foley from the University of Cambridge's Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, there is now doubt that deep within our biology lies aggressiveness and the ability to become lethal along with being deeply caring and loving. Human evolution in regards with biology suggests that there are two sides of the same coin.
Researchers also say that this type of human behavior can provide crucial insights about the earliest indications of mankind's ability to succumb to group violence where even the women and children were not spared from violent deaths during prehistoric times.
This new study is published in the journal, Nature.