But what if I tell you that the story of human anger and violence goes way beyond what we can imagine?
asserted
we → tell → what
Everyone hears from their grandfathers and grandmothers how good and lovely the world was before, and they too have heard the same story, almost making early humans seem like they lived in an actual heaven.
asserted
they → hear → heaven
Factually, long before modern civilisation, our ancestors lived in caves and depended on hunting and gathering for survival, but what if their psychology was not very different from ours?
asserted
psychology → live → ours
Anger, greed and a thirst for possession grasped them as much as we deal with them.
asserted
we → grasp → them
That might be one of the reasons why people find their life's solutions in a book written thousands of years ago.
uncertain
people → find → years
Maybe we have not changed as much as we think.
asserted
we → change → ?
A recent discovery in Iraqi Kurdistan has offered rare evidence of what could be one of the earliest known cases of deliberate lethal violence involving a wooden spear.
uncertain
what → offer → spear
According to a study published in the journal
Scientific Reports, researchers from the University of Cambridge have discovered a 75,000-year-old Neanderthal skeleton with a small, circular hole in its left shoulder blade.
uncertain
researchers → accord → blade
The injury suggests that a sharpened wooden spear may have passed through the individual's chest, potentially in an attack deliberately aimed at the heart.
uncertain
spear → suggest → heart
The remains, named Shanidar A, were discovered in Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan and could represent the oldest known evidence of fatal interpersonal violence involving a wooden spear in the hominin fossil record.
uncertain
remains → name → record
A 15 mm hole that may reveal a deadly attack
uncertain
that → reveal → attack
The 75,000-year-old Neanderthal’s left shoulder blade shows the fractures.
asserted
blade → show → fractures
One of the most interesting aspects of the discovery is the condition of the shoulder blade, also known as a scapula.
asserted
One → know → scapula
The bone is extremely delicate, with some parts so thin that light can pass through them.
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light → pass → them
Yet, it remained almost completely intact after spending around 75,000 years beneath approximately 7.5 metres of rock and sediment.
asserted
it → remain → rock
The only major damage was a remarkably circular opening measuring around 15 millimetres across.
asserted
damage → measure → millimetres
According to the researchers, the shape of the hole provides an important clue about the weapon that may have caused it.
uncertain
that → accord → it
Spears with flint or stone tips generally leave flatter or more angular openings, while the rounded shape of this injury is consistent with a sharpened wooden point.
asserted
shape → leave → point
Based on their reconstruction, the researchers believe the spear entered the front of the individual's left chest, passed through a lung and probably major blood vessels before piercing the shoulder blade from behind.
asserted
spear → base → behind
The force and position of the injury suggest that the weapon may have been deliberately directed towards the heart, causing a rapidly fatal wound.
uncertain
weapon → suggest → wound
The researchers also identified small fragments of bone displaced during the impact.
asserted
researchers → identify → impact
Their position and the bevelled edges around the opening helped the team reconstruct the direction in which the weapon travelled.
asserted
weapon → help → which
The evidence suggests that the spear entered from above and moved downwards through the body.
uncertain
spear → suggest → body
The question we all have been thinking about.
asserted
we → think → question
Although the injury appears consistent with a targeted attack, researchers have not been able to establish with certainty what actually happened to Shanidar A.
asserted
what → appear → certainty
One possibility is that the individual was attacked by another Neanderthal, while another is that the injury was just a tragic incident during hunting.
asserted
injury → attack → hunting
Neanderthals were another human species that coexisted with Homo sapiens and hunted large and dangerous animals, sometimes at close range using thrusting spears.
asserted
that → coexist → spears
An accident involving such a weapon could also have caused a fatal injury.
uncertain
accident → involve → injury
Dr Emma Pomeroy, the lead author of the study from the University of Cambridge's Department of Archaeology, acknowledged that hunting large animals such as mammoths could have resulted in similar injuries.
uncertain
hunting → acknowledge → injuries
Interestingly, the possible violent death of Shanidar A was not the only thing researchers discovered from his remains.
asserted
researchers → discover → remains
His teeth showed evidence of an earlier severe facial injury, which had damaged one of his front teeth and pushed neighbouring teeth inward.
asserted
which → show → teeth
However, the individual appears to have survived this injury for at least a year, possibly longer.
uncertain
individual → appear → year
Researchers believe that such an injury would have made eating difficult, meaning that Shanidar A may have depended on other members of his group for support.
uncertain
A → believe → support
According to Dr Emma Pomeroy, surviving with such damage would likely have required some form of care from others, possibly through softer foods that were easier to eat.
uncertain
that → accord → foods
The discovery not only opens up our understanding of the physical aspects of Neanderthals but also their social behaviour, how the inability of one member brings care from the community.
asserted
inability → open → community
This shows the two aspects of human civilisation itself: love and care, and anger and greed, with Cain and Abel represented in a single finding.
asserted
Cain → show → finding
The Aporia
