The Sima de los Huesos (SH) site has provided the largest collection of hominin crania in the fossil record, offering an unprecedented opportunity to perform a complete forensic taphonomic study on a population from the Middle Pleistocene.
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| The skulls of Sima de los Huesos [Credit: UCL] |
Nevertheless, in addition to the postmortem fractures, eight crania also display some typical perimortem traumas.
By using CT images we analyzed these fractures in detail. Interpersonal violence as a cause for the perimortem fractures can be confirmed for one of the skulls, Cranium 17 and also probable for Cranium 5 and Cranium 11.
For the rest of the crania, although other causes cannot be absolutely ruled out, the violence-related traumas are the most plausible scenario for the perimortem fractures.
If this hypothesis is confirmed, the team may be able to interpret that interpersonal violence was a recurrent behaviour in this population from the Middle Pleistocene.
The study is published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
Source: University College London [June 17, 2016]