This paper explores the nature and extent of confict in Late Neolithic Europe based on expanded
skeletal evidence for violence from the San Juan ante Portam Latinam rockshelter in present-day Spain
(ca. 3380–3000 cal. BC). The systematic osteological re-examination has identifed 65 unhealed and 89
healed traumas—of which 77 were previously undocumented—consistent with aggression. They afect
23.1% of the 338 individuals represented. Adolescent and adult males are particularly afected (44.9%
of the 107 identifed), comprising 97.6% of unhealed trauma and 81.7% of healed trauma recorded
in individuals whose sex could be estimated and showing higher frequencies of injuries per individual
than other demographic subgroups. Results suggest that many individuals, essentially men, were
exposed to violence and eventually killed in battle and raids, since warriorship is mainly restricted to
this demographic in many societies. The proportion of casualties is likely to have been far greater than
indicated by the 10.1% individuals exhibiting unhealed trauma, given the presence of isolated cases
of unhealed postcranial trauma and of arrowheads potentially having impacted into soft tissues. This,
together with skeletal indicators of poor health and the possible socioeconomic outcomes evidenced
in the region, suggest wider social impacts, which may relate to a more sophisticated and formalized
way of warfare than previously appreciated in the European Neolithic record.

Fernández-Crespo, T., Ordoño, J., Etxeberria, F., Herrrasti, L., Armendáriz, A., Vegas, J.I., Schulting, R.J., 2023. Large-scale violence in Late Neolithic Western Europe based on expanded skeletal evidence from San Juan ante Portam Latinam. Sci Rep 13, 17103 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-43026-9