Ancient Hole in Neanderthal Shoulder Blade May Be The Oldest Spear Attack Ever Discovered - ScienceAlert
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The left scapula of Shanidar A. (University of Cambridge)
When the end came, it must have been very painful. In a moment of violence roughly 75,000 years ago, something sharp pierced the body of the victim, known only as Shanidar A, an adult Neanderthal estimated to be 45 years old. The deadly injury left a gaping 15-millimeter-wide hole in Shanidar A's left shoulder blade. We can't say for sure what made that hole, but in a new study in Scientific Reports, researchers suggest it was probably a spear, meaning this could be the earliest known example of an interpersonal spear attack in the hominin fossil record. "The position of the wound and the force required to push it right through the Neanderthal's body bear the hallmarks of an intended kill shot directed towards the heart," says paleoanthropologist Emma Pomeroy from Cambridge University. In their study, researchers analyzed the remains of Shanidar A, which were excavated in 2019 and 2022 from Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan, one of the world's most important archaeological sites for understanding Neanderthal behavior, dating back to fossil discoveries that began in the 1950s.
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