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Broken skulls of children tell of an ancient massacre

Even youngsters less than 10 years old were not spared in a spate of gruesome violence in central Europe more than 6,000 years ago.
Round-shaped blunt force trauma on the left side of the frontal bone

The skull of an 11-to-15-year-old boy was damaged by a club or similar weapon during his violent death some 6,000 years ago. Credit: I. Janković et al./Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.

The battered skulls of men, women and children interred in a prehistoric mass grave in what is now Croatia are evidence of an early incident of indiscriminate killing in Europe.

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Nature 597, 154 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02372-2

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