It is a real investigation into the heart of the Upper Palaeolithic that is being carried out around the site of the Cro-Magnon shelter in the Dordogne region of France. The site discovered 150 years ago made it possible to collect the bones of several people, and their study is still topical. The lesions observed on the skull of the individual called “Cro-Magnon 2” are at the center of research which questions the causes of his death. Accident ? Murder? This is the subject of a recently published article.
Cro-Magnon, murder victim? A recent study published in Journal of Human Evolution examines lesions observed on the skullskull of an individual discovered 150 years ago, on the site of the Cro-Magnon shelter, in the Dordogne. Studying such ancient bones makes it possible to better understand the gestures of the past, but it turns out to be complex. On the one hand because of the high technicality of the methods to be used, on the other hand, because the ancient bones were not always collected rigorously at the time of their discovery. In this shelter, for example, current scientists lack details about the burial contexts. It is a double investigation, one that affects the site itself to better understand it, and one that affects the human bones discovered inside.
A real puzzle
One of the difficulties linked to this site, is to reconstruct the skeletons of the individuals found, and to determine which bones go together. In the 19the century, when the remains in question were discovered, the archaeological methods, both of surveys and of samples, were very different from those of today. Thus, it is very difficult 150 years later for researchers to be able to recreate this puzzle of bones, this requires a lot of work which can give rise to heated scientific debates.
On the Abri de Cro-Magnon site, it is an individual called “Cro-Magnon 2” who is at the heart of the recently published study. The latter carries a anomaliesanomalies on the skull, an element which had already been questioned at the time of its discovery, and which was recorded in research notebooks. All those who studied this case in the nineteenthe century believed that this defect resulted from a deep blow, already speaking of a possible murder. During the XXe century, bone analysis methods are being refined and other researchers are looking into this case as the years go by.
Understanding Bones
Around this particular lesion, several questions began to emerge. Namely, was it done during the person’s lifetime? Or is it perimortem, in other words arrived at the moment of death? Or, was this injury the cause of death? What if it was just a lesion post-mortem ? So many questions that arise each time an old body is found with lesions.
This is all the work of specialists in biological anthropology and paleoanthropologypaleoanthropology to understand the why of these marks, as well as to identify what is in the field of diseases in paleopathology thanks to analyzes and CT-scans. The fracture was analyzed in great detail to try to determine its origin. In addition, another question remains unanswered, that of the biological sex of the individual, long considered to be female; subsequent analyzes caution against this conclusion. “Cro-Magnon 2” thus remains of indeterminate sex although the individual died in his thirties or forties, and he was the carrier of a deformity of the skull of congenital origin.
Cro-Magnon didn’t die right away
After many in-depth analyzes of the fracture that have questioned researchers for 150 years, the study tends to show that the injury was inflicted during the individual’s lifetime but that death would have occurred at least a month later with a healinghealing incomplete at the time of death. An injury that could have caused serious brain damage in response to such a shock. Also, the entire study points to an injury resulting from a blow being struck, not a accidentaccident. The other individuals discovered in the shelter do not bear similar fractures, which removes the hypothesis of a mass killing.
The deceased was buried in a grave with a strong presence ofocherocher red, clearly higher than normal for this period. Ocher is found in many tombs of the Upper Paleolithic but here, its presence is much more important, echoing other cases, in particular that of Sunghir in Russia. All of these elements raise questions about status and health considerations for these periods resulting in a funeral context. All of these elements make the burial of “Cro-Magnon 2” a very special situation, the blow received having been deliberately carried out.
Prehistoric violence?
If the general public can still be marked by the image conveyed in recent centuries of our ancestors, dressed in animal skins beating themselves with clubs and dragging their wives by the hair, we must all the same take into consideration what science allows to advance or not on the old behaviors. Field studies and in-depth analyzes such as these make it possible to collect cases and try to draw up hypotheses. Nevertheless, concerning the peoples of prehistory, it is important to be absolutely cautious about the interpretations concerning their daily way of life.
Here, we learn more about the care given by the living to the dead, both at the time of his death and at the time of his burial. This does not give any further indications either on the temporality of a rite prior to the burial if there was one, or on the gendered division of tasks around the death. As for questions about prehistoric violence, the scientific community continues to work on this issue. This notion is still hotly debated, and again subject to numerous exchanges between specialists. Prehistory is far from being a page turned in view of the interest that the public expresses for this period, as well as the many studies that exist that sometimes call into question what we thought we knew about periods still full of areas of shade.
While waiting to find out more, you can discover during a walk in the region the Cro-Magnon Shelter Museum in the Dordogne to discover the site and its history.