A new international scientific study shows that violence and warfare were widespread in many of the Neolithic farming societies of northwestern Europe.

The study covers the period between 6000 B.C. – 2000 BC (the time of the spread of agriculture in the West) and dispels the myth of peaceful societies. Competition for cultivable land was probably one of the main causes of widespread violence.

Bioarchaeological analysis of the skeletons of 2300 early farmers from 180 different sites in France, Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden and Spain shows that more than one in ten have obvious gunshot wounds, mostly to the skull, from blunt objects or stone fragments. Many cases of stab wounds were also found on the rest of the body, mostly from arrows. The presence of mass graves in some cases betrays the extermination of entire settlements.

Contrary to popular belief that the Neolithic era was primarily characterized by peaceful cooperation, researchers published in the Journal of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) concluded that in some regions of Europe, the period before 4000–8000 years was full of conflict and violence. and led to the destruction of entire communities.

A study by scientists from the Universities of Edinburgh (Scotland), Bournemouth (England) and Lund (Sweden) and the Center for Osteoarchaeological Research (Germany) evaluates the emergence of crops and animal husbandry as a way of life. which replaced hunting and gathering food from nature, laid the foundation for more organized and systematic warfare.

“Human bones are the most direct and objective evidence of past military actions. Our ability to distinguish between fatal injuries and post-mortem fractures has improved significantly in recent years, and in addition, we can now distinguish between accidental injuries and injuries caused by firearms,” said researcher Dr. Linda Fiebiger from the School of History and Archaeology. from the University of Edinburgh.

“The study raises the question of why violence was so widespread during that period. The most plausible explanation is that the economic basis of society has changed. With agriculture came inequality, and those who were less well off seem to have engaged in raids and collective violence from time to time as an alternative strategy to succeed. And the results are now increasingly being recognized by archaeologists,” said researcher Dr Martin Smith from the Department of Archeology and Anthropology at Bournemouth University.

^{Source: RES-IPE}