Bronze Age Britons ‘have been cannibals who ate their enemies’ after violent bloodbath

On Dec 16, 2024

The remains of the victims were found in a cave in Somerset in the 1970s and it is the largest case of violence between humans identified in early Bronze Age England

10:09, 16 Dec 2024

Scientists have uncovered the aftermath of an ‘exceptionally violent’ attack about 4,000 years ago(Image: Professor Rick Schulting)

Around 37 people killed in a brutal massacre 4,000 years ago were likely “chomped into pieces” by their enemies.

The gruesome discovery revealed the aftermath of an “exceptionally violent attack,” in what is now considered the largest case of human violence during early Bronze Age England – a period previously thought to be peaceful.

The victims’ bones were discovered by cavers the 1970s, believed to have been discarded into a 15m shaft by their prehistoric assailants. The massacre was likely fuelled by a vengeful “desire for revenge”, with its impact resonating through generations, according to Professor Rick Schulting from Oxford University, the BBC reports.

It is the largest case of violence between humans identified in early Bronze Age England(Image: Professor Rick Schulting)

He suggests that the victims may have been consumed in a ritual act to “dehumanise” them and send a message by “insulting the remains”. Archaeologists analysed around 3,000 bone fragments found at Charterhouse Warren cave system in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, concluding that at least 37 individuals, including men, women, and children, met a violent end.

Teenagers and older children accounted for about half of the victims. Given that early Bronze Age British villages typically housed between 50 to 100 people, this brutal event could have resulted in almost an entire community being wiped out.

The Bronze Age in Britain spanned from approximately 2500–2000 BC until 800BC, marking a time when bronze replaced stone as the material of choice for tools and weapons, and significant advancements in agricultural methods led to the establishment of large, permanent farms.

In the newly discovered attack, there was no evidence of resistance, suggesting the victims were caught off guard. Scrapes and cuts on the bones suggest that the attackers methodically dismembered their victims using stone tools and likely consumed them.

The victims’ bones were found by cavers in the 1970s(Image: Professor Rick Schulting)

“If we saw these marks on animal bones, we’d have no question that they were butchered,” says Prof Schulting. The scientists do not believe the attackers ate the remains out of hunger as the fragments were found alongside animal bones, indicating there was enough food.

The extensive dismembering of the bodies is the first documented case for this era. There is limited evidence that tension in this era was caused by a fight over resources.

This led the experts to suspect this violence was caused by a significant breakdown in relationships. “This was something exceptional. This level of almost erasing the person, literally chopping them into pieces, seems like something you would only do if fuelled by anger, fear and resentment,” Prof Schulting suggests.

One theory was that someone did “something horrible that justified this in the eyes of those doing it”, he says. “This is not a homicidal maniac. This is a community of people that came together to do this to another community,” Prof Schulting adds.

Around 3,000 fragments of bones were found (Image: Professor Rick Schulting)

The professor suggests that a culture of honour may have led to the attack. “If you felt wronged, it was ultimately your responsibility to do something about it. It’s not like you could go to the magistrate and ask for something to be done,” Prof Schulting says.

He proposes that this appears to be a case where “things cycled out of control and normal checks and balances failed.”

This could be due to one particularly antagonistic individual who didn’t “let things rest” or “had their own agenda”. “If you have those kinds of people on two sides of a conflict, it starts to spiral out of control,” he suggests.

Experts have typically believed that early Bronze Age England was not particularly violent because very limited signs of conflict have been found. There is no evidence of weapons like swords or of fortifications that would suggest communities needed to protect themselves.

Before this discovery, only about 10 victims of violent attacks had been found from the period, Prof Schulting says. The scientists said they do not believe this would have been a one-off attack because “there would have been repercussions”.

“But at some point calmer heads probably prevailed and people got on with their lives and some sense of normality returned,” Prof Schulting suggests. He warns that the attack should not be seen as a sign that the past was “particularly savage and bloody” or that “we’re beyond all of that now.”

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“I hope it gives us insights into human nature that extend beyond just the Bronze Age,” he adds.

The study has been published in the scholarly journal Antiquity.

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