DURHAM, England, June 5 (UPI) -- British anthropologists say they have found the first evidence that suggests fighting over women occurred as early as prehistoric times in Europe.
A mass grave of 34 skeletons investigated by Durham University-led researchers in the German village of Talheim suggests neighboring prehistoric tribes ofttimes brutally killed their male rivals to secure their women. Genetic evidence suggests the people were killed in approximately 5,000 B.C.
The researchers found that, although there were adult females among the immigrant skeletons, within the local group of skeletons there were men and children only. They concluded the absence of local females indicates they were spared execution and captured instead, which might have been the primary motive for the attack.
German skeletal experts determined the majority of the people had suffered a fatal blow to the left side of their head, suggesting they had been found and killed, probably with a stone ax. Others might have been killed by arrows from behind, as if they had tried to flee.
The study conducted with researchers from University College London, the University of Wisconsin and a German government body is described in the journal Antiquity.
