In the village of Kosenivka in the Cherkasy region, Ukrainian and German archaeologists have found the ruins of a house with the remains of seven people dating back to 3700-3600 BC. Some of them may have been killed in a fire in the house. This was indicated by traces of burns and injuries on the bones of people who were representatives of the Trypillia culture. The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE, reports UNN.
Details
It is noted that during the excavations, archaeologists found the remains of seven people: four adults, a teenager, and two children of different ages.
They were analyzed using osteological analysis to identify traces of disease, trauma, and burns, radiocarbon analysis to determine the age of the remains, and isotopic analysis to help establish the diet of ancient people.
Interestingly, one person whose remains were also found within the house died more than 100 years later than the others.
As it turned out, the Trypillians ate mostly plant-based foods, and meat accounted for only 10 percent of their diet.
Four of the remains showed signs of burns that occurred immediately after death or caused it: two children, a teenager, presumably a woman, and an adult aged 25-40, also presumably a woman. Two other adults, although they did not have burn marks on their bones, died around the same time as the fire, presumably from carbon monoxide poisoning or related injuries. Their bones are located at a distance from the burned ones, which may indicate that they managed to get out of the burning house.
Two adults - a woman who died in the fire and, presumably, a man without burn marks on his bones - had traces of pre-mortem trauma on their skull bones, which may indicate a violent death. Scientists know that Trypillians could burn down houses after leaving their campsites, but the discovery of human bones in a burned house does not fit into this idea. According to archaeologists, this may be due to a previously unknown burial ritual or an attack by representatives of neighboring tribes.
Recall
Researchers have discovered a mysterious stone sculpture in the shape of a turtle in a cave in the Holy Land of Manot, located in the Galilee region of northern Israel. Archaeologists believe that people could have worshiped it 35 thousand years ago.