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A scan of a fossil jaw has revealed evidence of what may have been a violent attack 100,000 years ago.
Researchers studying remains from Qafzeh Cave in Israel say a sharp stone tool likely cut the man’s jaw. The bone later began to heal, showing that he survived the wound. The finding ranks among the earliest known examples of sharp-force trauma in Homo sapiens and adds a stark human detail to one of the world’s oldest burial sites.
Forensic Evidence
Qafzeh Cave, near Nazareth, has long held a special place in human origins research. Excavations beginning in the 1930s uncovered the remains of at least 27 early Homo sapiens, many of them buried between about 145,000 and 92,000 years ago.
These people lived tens of thousands of years before modern humans spread widely across Eurasia. They also left behind signs of unusually rich behavior: burials, red ochre, shells that may have been worn as ornaments, and stone artifacts marked with geometric patterns.
The new study focuses on Qafzeh 25, a young adult male whose partial skeleton was excavated in 1979. Earlier work had noted damage across the skeleton, much of it caused after death by pressure, sediment, and fossilization.
But high-resolution micro-CT scans revealed something different on the left side of his lower jaw: a deep, linear mark cutting through the mandible and affecting a premolar. The groove had a V-shaped profile, a shape typically produced by a sharp edge, like a blade.
The researchers also found signs of bone remodeling around the wound. In plain terms, the bone had started to repair itself. The injury did not appear to reach the tooth’s pulp chamber, which contains nerves, blood vessels, and other living tissue. That may have reduced the risk of a dangerous infection and helped the victim survive.
Violence, Survival and Care
The researchers cannot pinpoint exactly what happened. A hunting mishap or accident remains possible.
But the wound’s position strengthens the case for interpersonal violence. Modern forensic studies show that blows to the face often land on the left side, a pattern linked to right-handed attackers during face-to-face confrontations. The injury to Qafzeh 25 fits that pattern.
Stone tools from Qafzeh included flint scrapers and points, either of which may have been capable of producing such a wound. If the team’s interpretation is correct, the injury preserves evidence of a confrontation between humans deep in the Middle Paleolithic, tens of thousands of years before farming or written history.
Whatever caused the cut, Qafzeh 25 lived long enough for the bone to begin healing. That survival may point to help from others, especially if the injury made eating or drinking difficult or increased the risk of infection.
The scans also uncovered a separate surprise: a hidden cavity in a rotated premolar, the first such premolar cavity reported from the Qafzeh group. Other individuals from the site also had dental problems, and researchers have noted that Qafzeh shows an unusually high rate of cavities compared with many other Paleolithic populations.
Diet, environment, genetics or some mix of those factors may have affected the group’s oral health.
Buried With Care
The group likely buried Qafzeh 25 soon after his death. The bones show no evidence of scavenging by carnivores, long exposure to weather, or trampling. That suggests the body was protected soon after death and supports the idea that Qafzeh Cave served as a deliberate burial place for these early Homo sapiens.
The man’s jaw adds a more personal record to that setting. The wound’s origin remains a mystery. But its shape and position make interpersonal violence a plausible (and perhaps leading) explanation.
Qafzeh 25 now joins a short list of ancient humans whose bones preserve traces of social life as well as death. His remains suggest that early Homo sapiens at the cave faced injury and disease, sometimes survived them, and buried their dead with care. The evidence is fragmentary, but it pushes these behaviors deep into the human past.
The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
This story originally appeared on ZME Science. Want to get smarter every day? Subscribe to our newsletter and stay ahead with the latest science news.
