China: 97 Human Bodies Stacked Inside 20 Square-Meter House - http://clapway.com/2015/07/29/china-97-human-bodies-stacked-inside-20-square-meter-house-245/

Chinese archaeologists uncovered the remains of 97 human bodies stacked in a 5000-year-old burned down house that was a mere 20 square meters. The researchers believe the bodies found at the site named Hamin Mangha in China may have perished of an epidemic that quickly collected its victims leaving no time to bury the deceased.

Grisly Scene as 97 Human Bodies Piled in Just 20 Square Meters

An excavation of a prehistoric Chinese village now named Hamin Mangha revealed a grisly scene as a small house of only 20 square meters held the human bodies of 97 juveniles and middle-age adults. Of the 97 remains, none of the bodies were over the age of 35 and only half of them were over 19 years old, meaning the rest belonged to children and young adolescents.

Though the researchers did not name a specific disease, the number of individuals in the mass grave indicates whatever it was, the disease plucked away these children, teenagers, and young adults faster than the remaining villagers to properly bury them.

The remains were stacked in some areas, jumbled in others, and completely askew in parts as more and more victims were claimed by the mystery disease. The building burned down sometime 5,000 years ago and the deceased have remain in hiding until now.

Though the study was published in Chinese Archaeology, unless you can read Chinese, you won’t be able to access the actual study. Instead, check out the English summary.

Prehistoric Site Hamin Mangha Holds Clues to Mass Grave of Human Bodies

The recent study revealed 29 houses made in a simple design of a solitary room, but the most interesting house was “F40” or the house of horrors containing the mass grave of human bodies.

It appears that F40 had a particular scheme of body arrangement as the archaeologists noted that in the northwest, the remains were complete skeletons whereas in the east, the remains were mostly skulls with missing limbs. Even more chilling is that in the south, the limbs had been thrown into piles up to three layers deep.

Researchers working on the excavation have come from the Inner Mongolian Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology as well as Jilin University’s Research Center for Chinese Frontier Archaeology.

Though the archaeologists didn’t mention the other houses as much, they did mention F40 had burned down at some point, charring and deforming many of the skulls and limbs.

Eerie Similarities in Other Mass Graves in China

Interestingly enough, the victims at Hamin Mangha were very close in age to victims found in another mass grave in a separate village, called Miaozigou. Both villages were in northeast China.

The team concluded that Hamin Mangha remains most likely succumbed to an epidemic that swept through northeast China with a vicious speed. This theory of a fast-spreading infectious illness would also account for the mass burial victims at Miaozigou as well.

Whether the scientists will investigate the possible prehistoric illness or not, the stack of human bodies found in China after over 5,000 years in waiting is a bone-chilling, yet exciting discovery for Chinese archaeologists and anthropologists.

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China: 97 Human Bodies Stacked Inside 20 Square-Meter House

Archaeology find: the World’s First Murder Victim? - http://clapway.com/2015/05/27/archaeology-find-the-worlds-first-murder-victim123/

Forensic evidence has uncovered the most fascinating find: archaeologists have found a pre-Neanderthal skull dating back 430,000 years that shows two very significant cranial fractures. Using specialized techniques to examine the skull, scientists have concluded that the murder victim was very likely killed by two blows to the head, after which he was tossed down a 42.6-foot cave system.

Found in the “Pit of Bones”: earliest instance of human violence

The recovered skeletal remains of the murder victim were dug up from a cave system in northern Spain, popularly known as Sima de los Huesos, or “Pit of Bones.” The site is located in the Atapuerca Mountains, where fossils and stone tools belonging to the earliest known Hominins in western Europe have been discovered. 52 fragments of the skull were uncovered. Two holes, close together in distance, appear on the skull. Both sit above the left eye, made by two different impacts from the same object. These two separate injuries were identified as closely matching in the shape of their fractures and size. The different orientations of the injuries mark distinct trajectories made by the weapon, and strongly suggest a face-to-face combat between the murder victim and his killer.

Cruel intentions: a study in human behavior

The case of this murder victim sheds light on what could very likely be the first known instance of deliberate, lethal, interpersonal aggression in the Hominin record. This only strengthens the theory that acting upon instinctual violence was a part of the earliest humans on Earth.

Known as Cranium 17, the remains of the skull neatly identify with the remains of 6,700 bones of at least 28 other individuals who date back 430,000 years. All were found in a chamber at the very end of the cave shaft. So far, however, the only indications of intentional murder are carved on Cranium 17. Researchers are more or less positive that a weapon such as a wooden spear or stone hand axe caused the fractures — a lot of force would have been needed to have the dense bone knock into the brain.

Only two possible cases of murder have been studied in the fossil record. One is a Neanderthal who died weeks after suffering a penetrated bodily wound. The other was identified as an early modern human from the Upper Paleolithic period, who likely experienced an injury from sharp trauma.

Archaeology find: the World’s First Murder Victim?