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Contesting the massacre at Nataruk

Nature volume 539, pages E8–E10 (2016)Cite this article

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ARISING FROM M. Mirazón Lahr et al. Nature 529, 394–398 (2016); doi:10.1038/nature16477

Mirazón Lahr et al.1 present the earliest evidence of inter-group warfare at the East African site of Nataruk. Their evidence of warfare is based on three inferences: that the skeletons were all contemporaneous, that the bodies were left unburied, and that most individuals exhibited perimortem trauma consistent with interpersonal violence. We believe the data suggest that the burials are not contemporaneous and that most of the observed cranial damage is inconsistent with blunt force trauma. Therefore, the inference of inter-group warfare is premature. There is a Reply to this Comment by Mirazón Lahr, M. et al. Nature 539, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature19779 (2016).

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Figure 1: Examples of cranial vault taphonomy and trauma from modern forensics cases.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, 85287, Arizona, USA

    Christopher M. Stojanowski, Andrew C. Seidel, Laura C. Fulginiti, Kent M. Johnson & Jane E. Buikstra

  2. Center for Bioarchaeological Research, Arizona State University, Tempe, 85287, Arizona, USA

    Christopher M. Stojanowski, Andrew C. Seidel, Kent M. Johnson & Jane E. Buikstra

  3. Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner, Phoenix, 85007, Arizona, USA

    Laura C. Fulginiti

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  1. Christopher M. Stojanowski
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Correspondence to Christopher M. Stojanowski.

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Stojanowski, C., Seidel, A., Fulginiti, L. et al. Contesting the massacre at Nataruk. Nature 539, E8–E10 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19778

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