News Archaeology

Bones from an Iron Age massacre paint a violent picture of prehistoric Europe

Unburied victims and abandoned jewelry suggest a power struggle rather than plunder

bones from ancient Iberian massacre

A new analysis of ancient remains suggests that a violent massacre occurred at a site in what’s now Spain at least 2,200 years ago. Scientists found this amputated forearm with five copper-alloy bracelets still attached.

T. Fernández-Crespo, A. Llanos, J. Ordoño, R. J. Schulting, © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2020

By Curtis Segarra

- More than 2 years ago

Attacked from behind and at times dismembered, the fallen residents of an ancient Iberian village add to evidence that prehistoric Europe was a violent place.