The Talheim Death Pit discovered in 1983, was a mass grave

Mass grave

A mass grave is a grave containing multiple number of human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. There is no strict definition of the minimum number of bodies required to constitute a mass grave, although the United Nations defines a mass grave as a burial site which...

 found in a Linearbandkeramik (LBK) settlement, also known as a Linear Pottery Culture settlement. It dates back to about 5000 BC. The pit takes its name from its site in Talheim, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. The pit contained the remains of 34 bodies, and evidence points towards the first signs of organized violence

Violence

Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...

 in Early Neolithic

Neolithic

The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

 Europe.

Evidence of violence

The Talheim grave contained a total of 34 skeletons, consisting of 16 children, 9 adult males, 7 adult women, and two more adults of indeterminate sex. Several skeletons of this group exhibited signs of repeated and healed-over trauma

Physical trauma

Trauma refers to "a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident." It can also be described as "a physical wound or injury, such as a fracture or blow." Major trauma can result in secondary complications such as circulatory shock, respiratory failure and death...

, suggesting that violence was a habitual or routine aspect of the culture. Not all of the wounds, however, were healed at the time of death

Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....

. All of the skeletons at Talheim showed signs of significant trauma that were likely the cause of death. Broken down into three categories, 18 skulls were marked with wounds indicating the sharp edge of adzes of the Linearbandkeramik or Linear Pottery culture

Linear Pottery culture

The Linear Pottery culture is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic, flourishing ca. 5500–4500 BC.It is abbreviated as LBK , is also known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Incised Ware culture, and falls within the Danubian I culture of V...

 (LBK); 14 skulls were similarly marked with wounds produced from the blunt edge of adzes, and 2–3 had wounds produced by arrows

Arrows

Arrows Grand Prix International was a British Formula One team active from to . For a period of time, it was also known as Footwork.-Origins :...

. The skeletons did not exhibit evidence of defensive wounds, indicating that the population was fleeing when it was killed.

Reasons for violence

Warfare in primitive, ungoverned regions has been much more prevalent than warfare in civilized states.
Death by violence is seen in burials from as far back as 34,000 to 24,000 years ago in central and western Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. The massacre at Talheim supports this idea by giving evidence of habitual warfare between Linearbandkeramik settlements. It is most likely that the violence occurred amongst LBK populations since the head wounds indicate the use of weapons from LBK cultures and all skeletons found resemble those of LBK settlers.

Speculations as to the reasons for violence between settlements include vengeance, conflicts over land, poaching

Poaching

Poaching is the illegal taking of wild plants or animals contrary to local and international conservation and wildlife management laws. Violations of hunting laws and regulations are normally punishable by law and, collectively, such violations are known as poaching.It may be illegal and in...

, demonstration of superiority, kidnapping slaves, and kidnapping women. Archaeologists also consider the possibility that the violence occurred between LBK farmers and hunter-gatherers, both struggling for resources. This theory is supported by the discovery that various LBK fortifications bordering indigenously inhabited areas appear to have not been in use for very long. This evidence suggests that the LBK farmers defeated the much smaller populations of hunter-gatherers and no longer needed the protection of the fortifications. Another reason for violence, although less likely, is its use in “ritual cannibalism

Cannibalism

Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...

” in LBK culture.

Opposing viewpoints

An opposing theory accounting for the violence at Talheim is that Europe was peaceful at the time the victims were living. Hand-crafted weapons, rather than simply hunting

Hunting

Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...

 tools, did not appear in Europe until 4500 BC at the earliest, a full 500 years after the bodies were dumped at Talheim. Similarly, fortifications have been found in the surrounding areas, however these structures have been dated to well after Talheim as well. Early forts in nearby Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, for instance, have been dated to the 4000s BC. While close to the estimated time-frame for the Talheim Death Pit, these forts are still considered primitive. The lack of protection offered by such forts indicates that the violence at this time was not as severe as the evidence at Talheim suggests.

Such violence did not enter the region until the invasion

Invasion

An invasion is a military offensive consisting of all, or large parts of the armed forces of one geopolitical entity aggressively entering territory controlled by another such entity, generally with the objective of either conquering, liberating or re-establishing control or authority over a...

 of tribes following the Kurgan Culture in the fourth millennium BC. Until the invasion of the Kurgan peoples, the region was an agrarian society, settled and content, with no reason for the populations to become violent with one another. The invasion uprooted the sedentary tribes, and caused chaos in the area. The LBK entered an unsettled “dark age” of disunity. Violence in the area came as a result of this chaos, because unsettled tribes became belligerent as they competed with neighbors. All of this occurred hundreds of years after the death of the 34 humans at Talheim.

Mass burial at Schletz-Asparn

The Schletz-Asparn mass grave was located near Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, in Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, and dates back about 7,500 years. Schletz, just like the Talheim death pit, is one of the earliest known sites in the archaeological record that shows proof of genocide

Genocide

Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...

 in Early Neolithic Europe, among various LBK tribes. The site was not entirely investigated, and had archaeologists uncovered the entire ditch, an estimated 300 individuals would have been found. The remains of 67 people have been uncovered, all showing multiple points of trauma. Scientists have concluded that these people were also victims of genocide. Since the weapons used were characteristic of LBK peoples, the attackers are believed to be members of other LBK tribes. In similar proportions to those found at Talheim, fewer young women were found than men at Schletz. Because of this scarcity of young women among the dead, it is possible that other women of the defeated group were kidnapped by the attackers. The site was enclosed, or fortified, which serves as evidence of violent conflict among tribes and means that these fortifications were built as a form of defense against aggressors. The people of Schletz had built two ditches to counter the menace of other LBK communities.

Mass burial at Herxheim

Another Early Neolithic mass grave was found at Herxheim

Herxheim

Herxheim is a municipality in the Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated approx. 10 km south-east of Landau. Herxheim is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde Herxheim....

, near Landau

Landau

Landau or Landau in der Pfalz is an autonomous city surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town , a long-standing cultural centre, and a market and shopping town, surrounded by vineyards and wine-growing villages of the...

 in the Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....

. The site, like the mass burials at Talheim and Schletz, serves as proof of the first signs of violence in Europe. Herxheim contained 173 skulls and skull-plates, and the scattered remains of at least 450 individuals. Two complete skeletons were found inside the inner ditch

Ditch

A ditch is usually defined as a small to moderate depression created to channel water.In Anglo-Saxon, the word dïc already existed and was pronounced 'deek' in northern England and 'deetch' in the south. The origins of the word lie in digging a trench and forming the upcast soil into a bank...

. The crania from these bodies were discovered at regular intervals in the two defensive ditches surrounding the site. After the victims were decapitated, their heads were either thrown into the ditch or placed on top of posts that later collapsed inside the ditch. The heads showed signs of trauma from axes

Axes

Axes may refer to:* Axes, woodworking hand tools* The plural of axis* Axes , a 2005 rock album by the British band Electrelane* X and Y axes, or X, Y, and Z axes, perpendicular lines used in the Cartesian coordinate system...

 and one other weapon. Moreover, the organized placing of the skulls suggests a recurrent ritual

Ritual

A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....

 act, instead of a single warlike episode. Herxheim also contained various high-quality pottery

Pottery

Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...

 artifacts

Artifact (archaeology)

An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...

 and animal bone

Bone

Bones are rigid organs that constitute part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals. Bone tissue is a type of dense connective tissue...

s associated with the human remains. Unlike the mass burial at Talheim, scientists have concluded that instead of being a fortification, Herxheim was an enclosed center for ritual.