Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a Neanderthal whose life came to a brutal end 75,000 years ago when a sharpened wooden spear plunged into the individual’s chest in one of the earliest known examples of a possible homicide, reports BritPanorama.
A neat, circular hole in the hominin’s shoulder blade suggested the weapon penetrated the chest, traveling through the lung and major arteries before puncturing the bone. It likely killed the Neanderthal instantly or shortly after, according to a study in the journal Scientific Reports published on Thursday.
The archaeologists who excavated the new skeletal fragments from Shanidar Cave in the Kurdistan region of Iraq say the fossils weave a complex tale of Neanderthal life and death, beyond the apparent violence of the incident.
During excavations in 2019 and 2022, the team discovered the Neanderthal’s scapula, preserved in 24 feet (7.5 meters) of rock and earth, along with a mostly complete right hand, two left ribs, a right rib fragment, and seven teeth. The Neanderthal, designated Shanidar A, was estimated to be about 45 years old at the time of death, though the individual’s sex remains undetermined.
The fatal wound was not the only injury the hominin sustained. One tooth found at the site was split, indicating blunt-force trauma to the face. However, the build-up of dental calculus over the tooth’s root canal suggested that the injury likely occurred earlier in life and the individual may have received care from others, such as being given soft, mashed food that would have been easier to eat. Previous research from the same site suggests that Neanderthals may have soaked and cooked meals of plants and legumes together.
“Surviving a blow that splits a tooth in this fashion, then continuing to live and eat for a period of at least a year and maybe more, would have required care and support from other Neanderthals,” said the study’s lead author Emma Pomeroy, an associate professor in the evolution of health, diet, and disease at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Archaeology.
“The remains of Shanidar A reflect the dual nature of so much of what we recognize as human. On one hand, we have evidence of a terribly violent end. On the other, this was clearly an individual who was cared for during their lifetime,” Pomeroy added.
The findings contribute to growing evidence of social support and care among Neanderthals. For instance, a 2017 study on a fossil found in the same cave revealed a male Neanderthal who had been deaf, paralyzed in the arm, and likely partially blinded from head trauma, yet he lived into adulthood — around 50 to 60 years old — suggesting others cared for him.
A fossilized ear bone unearthed at a site in Spain in 2024 offered evidence that Neanderthals may have cared for a child with Down syndrome, while another discovery in Siberia suggested they practiced a crude form of dentistry, potentially on each other.
Wooden weapon
Pomeroy and her colleagues determined that the 15 millimeter-wide circular perforation in the shoulder blade likely resulted from a thrusting weapon or a projectile made from sharpened wood. A spear tipped with stone would have left a different-shaped wound, they noted in their study.
It’s possible the death was the result of a hunting accident, but Pomeroy indicated that the position of the wound and the force required to penetrate the Neanderthal’s body “bear the hallmarks of an intended kill shot directed towards the heart.”
Fossils from the Middle Paleolithic era, dating from 250,000 to around 30,000 years ago, commonly show signs of traumatic injury, although these wounds are often attributed to probable accidents, such as close-quarters hunting. The study noted that examples of interpersonal violence are rare among Stone Age remains, becoming more common only as hunting and gathering transitioned to settled farming communities.
The authors suggested that Shanidar A’s wound may be the earliest instance of an ancient human relative killed with a wooden spear. Another Neanderthal unearthed from the cave in the 1960s, dated to around 50,000 years ago, also displayed evidence of a puncture wound but aligned more closely with a stone-tipped spear injury. Forensic analysis of hominin skulls from the cave Sima de los Huesos in Spain indicates intentional lethal violence occurring 430,000 years ago, though the weapon used remains unclear.
Neanderthals inhabited regions across Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia for approximately 300,000 years until their extinction around 40,000 years ago. DNA analysis from contemporary humans has shown that, during the overlapping millennia, Neanderthals and Homo sapiens sometimes encountered one another and interbred.
The authors noted the circumstances surrounding the violent act and whether other early humans could have been involved in the individual’s death remain uncertain. The team plans to conduct future experiments to elucidate the level of force required to inflict the wound, which could clarify if foul play was involved among Neanderthals.
Distinguishing accidental injury from deliberate violence poses challenges for scientists, but “a spear wound through the shoulder while facing the victim” lends support to the latter hypothesis, according to John McNabb, an emeritus professor of paleolithic archaeology at the University of Southampton’s Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins.
Finding two individuals at the same site with serious yet healed injuries “strongly suggests that caring for others was a part of this group’s behaviour, and given the timescale we are dealing with, over a long period of time,” he added.
The acts of compassion are a “deeply significant discovery in itself,” McNabb remarked in an email. “But it is at odds with the killing of Shanidar A with a spear. Here we are on less sure ground. Murder? Attack from a rival Neanderthal group? We just do not know.”
While the study could not determine the precise cause of death, the evidence from Pomeroy and her team “adds to another chapter of both Neanderthal trauma and Neanderthal care,” said Bruce Hardy, an anthropology professor at Kenyon College in Ohio, noting he was not involved in this research. “The site of Shanidar continues to astound even 60 years after its initial excavation,” he added.
Burial place
The cave where Shanidar A was discovered is a notable hominin burial site. Researchers in 1960 found several graves containing pollen traces, leading to the belief that Neanderthals may have interred their dead with flowers, a finding that challenged the view of ancient human species as unintelligent and brutish.
Pomeroy’s team, which began new excavations at the site in 2015, has cast doubt on the flower burial theory. They suspect that the pollen found among the graves may have been introduced much more recently through pollinating bees.
While the pollen evidence may remain contentious, Pomeroy and her colleagues assert that Neanderthals likely returned to Shanidar Cave multiple times to lay their dead to rest, including Shanidar A. This suggests they cared for one another in both life and death. Including Shanidar A, at least five Neanderthal individuals — four adults and an infant — have been found in a small space tucked behind a rock within a height of about two meters (6 feet 5 inches). Pomeroy described the new remains as part of a “remarkable cluster” that shared similar rituals surrounding death.
“They were placed at different times, but within living memory of each other — over a span of years or decades — indicating this spot in the cave, and perhaps the cave itself, held significant value,” she added.
