CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 52Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology StudiesArchaeological and Geological StudiesArchaeology and ancient environmental studies

Conflict, violence, and warfare among early farmers in Northwestern Europe

Open access
Fibiger, Linda, Ahlström, Torbjörn, Meyer, Christian, Smith, Martin·2023·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
DOI 10.1073/pnas.2209481119PMC PMC9942812
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Bioarchaeological evidence of interpersonal violence and early warfare presents important insights into conflict in past societies. This evidence is critical for understanding the motivations for violence and its effects on opposing and competing individuals and groups across time and space. Selecting the Neolithic of northwestern Europe as an area for study, the present paper examines the variation and societal context for the violence recorded in the human skeletal remains from this region as one of the most important elements of human welfare. Compiling data from various sources, it becomes apparent that violence was endemic in Neolithic Europe, sometimes reaching levels of intergroup hostilities that ended in the utter destruction of entire communities. While the precise comparative quantification of healed and unhealed trauma remains a fundamental problem, patterns emerge that see conflict likely fostered by increasing competition between settled and growing communities, e.g., for access to arable land for food production. The further development of contextual information is paramount in order to address hypotheses on the motivations, origins, and evolution of violence as based on the study of human remains, the most direct indicator for actual small- and large-scale violence.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1073/pnas.2209481119

Cites

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • It is common for groups that engage in funerary endocannibalism to also practice warfare-related exocannibalism, with both forms embedded in symbolic and ritual frameworks.

    “In fact, it is common for groups that engage in funerary endocannibalism to also practice warfare-related exocannibalism, with both forms embedded in symbolic and ritual frameworks12–14,64.”

    From Evidence of neolithic cannibalism among farming communities at El Mirador cave, Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain (2025) · cites this paper as [64]

    The ‘Identifying Violence and Conflict’ section discusses collective burials and group violence, but not funerary endocannibalism or warfare-related exocannibalism. Searches for those terms and for cannibalism in ritual or symbolic contexts found no passage in our copy supporting the claimed association. The References section lists a work on possible cannibalism but does not state this claim. (LLM, conf=0.75)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Outside starvation contexts, cannibalism often reflects deeply embedded symbolic, spiritual, or social beliefs.

    “Ethnographic and historical records show that, outside starvation contexts, cannibalism often reflects deeply embedded symbolic, spiritual, or social beliefs64.”

    From Evidence of neolithic cannibalism among farming communities at El Mirador cave, Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain (2025) · cites this paper as [64]

    The section “From Site Studies to Population Perspectives: Quantifying Violence” mentions cut marks used to infer cannibalism at Jettböle, Åland, but gives no motive for it. Searches for cannibalism, starvation, ritual, and symbolic or spiritual beliefs found no passage supporting the claimed distinction between starvation and belief-driven cannibalism. (LLM, conf=0.75)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

No references could be resolved yet.

Research works printed but not linked: 64

  1. [1]C. Tilley, An Ethnography of the Neolithic. Early Prehistoric Societies in Southern Scandinavia (Cambridge University Press, 1996).
  2. [2]J. Carman, A. Harding, “ Introduction” in Ancient Warfare, J. Carman, A. Harding, Eds., (Sutton Publishing, 1999), pp. 1– 9.
  3. [3]L. Fibiger, T. Ahlström, P. Bennike, R. J. Schulting, Patterns of violence-related skull trauma in Neolithic Southern Scandinavia. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 150, 190– 202 (2013). 23184653
  4. [4]M. J. Smith, “ The war to begin all wars? Contextualizing violence in Neolithic Britain” in The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Human Conflict, C. Knüsel, M. J. Smith, Eds. (Routledge, 2013), pp. 109– 126.
  5. [5]M. J. Smith, R. J. Schulting, L. Fibiger, “ Settled lives, unsettled times: Neolithic violence” in The Cambridge World History of Violence: Volume 1, The Prehistoric and Ancient Worlds, G. G. Fagan, L. Fibiger, M. Hudson, M. Trundle, Eds. (Cambridge University Press, 2020), pp. 79– 98.
  6. [6]L. Larsson, “ Mistrust traditions, consider innovations? The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Southern Scandinavia” in Going over. The Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in North-West Europe, A. Whittle, V. Cummings, Eds. (Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 595– 616.
  7. [7]B. Molloy, C. Horn, “ Weapons, warriors and warfare in Bronze Age Europe” in The Cambridge World History of Violence: Volume 1, The Prehistoric and Ancient Worlds, G. G. Fagan, L. Fibiger, M. Hudson, M. Trundle, Eds. (Cambridge University Press, 2020), pp. 117– 141.
  8. [8]J. P. Bocquet-Appel, When the world’s population took off: The springboard of the Neolithic demographic transition. Science 333, 560– 561 (2011). 21798934
  9. [9]M. Malmer, The Neolithic of South Sweden. TRB, GRK, and STR (The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, 2002).
  10. [10]A. Whittle, “ Hungary” in The First Farmers of Central Europe. Diversity in LBK Lifeways, P. Bickle, A. Whittle, Eds. (Oxbow, 2013), pp. 49– 100.
  11. [11]R. A. Bentley, Community differentiation and kinship among Europe’s first farmers. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 109, 9326– 9330 (2012). 22645332 PMC3386065
  12. [12]H. G. König, J. Wahl, “ Zur Biomechanik der Zusammenhangstrennung am Knochen” in Frühe Spuren der Gewalt - Schädelverletzungen und Wundversorgung an prähistorischen Menschenresten aus interdisziplinärer Sicht, J. Piek, T. Terberger, Eds. (Landesamt für Kultur und Denkmalpflege Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, 2006), pp. 11– 22.
  13. [13]M. Á. Moreno-Ibáñez, P. Saladié, J. I. Morales, A. Cebrià, J. M. Fullola, Was it an axe or an adze? A cranial trauma case study from the Late Neolithic – Chalcolithic site of Cova Foradada (Calafell, Spain). Int. J. Paleopathol. 32, 23– 30 (2021). 33276204
  14. [15]J. I. Vegas, Á. Armendariz, F. Etxeberria, M. Soledad Fernández, L. Herrasti, “ Prehistoric violence in northern Spain: San Juan ante Portam Latinam” in Sticks, Stones and Broken Bones. Neolithic Violence in a European Perspective, R. J. Schulting, L. Fibiger, Eds. (Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 265– 302.
  15. [17]M. J. Smith, Fantastic plastic? Experimental evaluation of polyurethane bone substitutes as proxies for human bone in trauma simulations. Leg. Med. (Tokyo) 17, 427– 435 (2015). 26130519
  16. [18]C. Kremer, S. Racette, C.-A. Dionne, A. Sauvageau, Discrimination of falls and blows in blunt head trauma: Systematic study of the hat brim line rule in relation to skull fractures. J. Forensic Sci. 53, 716– 719 (2008). 18471221
  17. [19]L. Fibiger, “ Investigating cranial trauma in the German Wartberg culture” in Sticks, Stones, and Broken Bones: Neolithic Violence in a European Perspective, R. Schulting, L. Fibiger, Eds. (Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 175– 189.
  18. [21]C. Meyer, C. Lohr, D. Gronenborn, K. W. Alt, The massacre mass grave of Schöneck-Kilianstädten reveals new insights into collective violence in early Neolithic Central Europe. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 112, 11217– 11222 (2015). 26283359 PMC4568710
  19. [22]J. Wahl, I. Trautmann, “ The Neolithic massacre at Talheim: A pivotal find in conflict archaeology” in Sticks, Stones and Broken Bones. Neolithic Violence in a European Perspective, R. J. Schulting, L. Fibiger, Eds. (Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 51– 76.
  20. [23]R. J. Schulting, M. Wysocki, ‘In this chambered tumulus were found cleft skulls...’: An assessment of the evidence for cranial trauma in the British Neolithic. Proc. Prehistoric Soc. 71, 107– 138 (2005).
  21. [24]R. J. Schulting, L. Fibiger, “ Violence in Neolithic north-west Europe” in Early Farmers: The View from Archaeology and Science, A. Whittle, P. Bickle, Eds. (British Academy, 2014), pp. 281– 306.
  22. [26]L. Fibiger, “ Conflict and violence in the Neolithic of central-northern Europe” in Conflict Archaeology: Materialities of Collective Violence in Late Prehistoric and Early Historic Europe, M. Fernández-Götz, N. Roymans, Eds. (Taylor & Francis, 2018), pp. 13– 22.
  23. [27]V. H. Estabrook, “ Violence and warfare in the European Mesolithic and Paleolithic” in Violence and Warfare among Hunter-Gatherers, M. W. Allen, T. L. Jones, Eds. (Left Coast Press, 2014), pp. 49– 69.
  24. [29]L. Fibiger, “ Steven Pinker’s ‘Prehistoric Anarchy’: A bioarchaeological critique” in The Darker Angels of our Nature: Refuting the Pinker Theory of History and Violence, P. Dwyer, M. Micale, Eds. (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021), pp. 107– 124.
  25. [30]C. Meyer, “ Early massacres: Mass violence in Neolithic Europe” in The Cambridge World History of Violence. Vol. I. The Prehistoric and Ancient Worlds, G. G. Fagan, L. Fibiger, M. Hudson, M. Trundle, Eds. (Cambridge University Press, 2020), pp. 299– 319.
  26. [32]R. J. Schulting, L. Fibiger, “ Skeletal evidence for interpersonal violence in Neolithic Europe: An introduction” in Sticks, Stones and Broken Bones. Neolithic Violence in a European Perspective, R. J. Schulting, L. Fibiger, Eds. (Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 1– 15.
  27. [34]A. Galloway, “ Principles for interpretation of blunt force trauma” in Broken Bones. Anthropological Analysis of Blunt Force Trauma, A. Galloway, Ed. (Charles C. Thomas, 1999), pp. 35– 112.
  28. [35]L. Fibiger, “ Misplaced childhood? Interpersonal violence and children in Neolithic Europe” in The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Human Conflict, C. Knüsel, M. J. Smith, Eds. (Routledge, 2013), pp. 127– 145.
  29. [36]A. Whittle, Europe in the Neolithic (Cambridge University Press, 1996).
  30. [38]H. Schroeder, Unraveling ancestry, kinship, and violence in a Late Neolithic mass grave. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 116, 10705– 10710 (2019). 31061125 PMC6561172
  31. [39]C. Meyer, O. Kürbis, V. Dresely, K. W. Alt, “ Patterns of collective violence in the early Neolithic of Central Europe” in Prehistoric Warfare and Violence. Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches, A. Dolfini, R. J. Crellin, C.J. Horn, M.J. Uckelmann, Eds. (Springer, 2018), pp. 21– 38.
  32. [40]R. C. Kelly, The evolution of lethal intergroup violence. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 102, 15294– 15298 (2005). 16129826 PMC1266108
  33. [42]M. J. Smith, M. B. Brickley, The date and sequence of use of Neolithic funerary monuments: New AMS dating evidence from the Cotswold Severn region. Oxford J. Archaeol. 25, 335– 356 (2006).
  34. [43]S. Walsh, C. Knüsel, N. Melton, Re-appraisal of the Early Neolithic human remains excavated at Sumburgh, Shetland, in 1977. Proc. Soc. Antiquaries Scotland 141, 3– 18 (2012).
  35. [44]M. P. Wysocki, A. Whittle, Parc le Breos Cwm transepted long cairn, Gower, West Glamorgan. Proc. Prehist. Soc. 64, 139– 182 (1998).
  36. [46]R. Mercer, “ The origins of warfare in the British Isles” in Ancient Warfare, J. Carman, A. Harding, Eds. (Sutton Publishing, 1999), pp. 143– 156.
  37. [48]M. Allentoft, Population genomics of stone age Eurasia. bioXriv [Preprint] (2022). 10.1101/2022.05.04.490594 (Accessed 18 June 2022). · DOI
  38. [49]K. -G. Sjögren, Early Neolithic human bog finds from Falbygden, western Sweden: New isotopic, osteological and histological investigations. J. Neolithic Archaeol. 19, 97– 126 (2017), 10.12766/jna.2017.4. · DOI
  39. [50]P. Bennike, “ Ancient trepanations and differential diagnosis: A re-evaluation of skeletal remains from Denmark” in Trepanation, R. Arnott, S. Finger, C. Smith, Eds. (CRC Press, 2003), pp. 95– 116.
  40. [51]T. Ahlström, P. Molnar, “ The placement of the feathers: Violence among sub-boreal hunter-gatherers from Gotland, Central Baltic Sea” in Stones Sticks, and Broken Bones. Neolithic Violence in a European Perspective, R. Schulting, L. Fibiger, Eds. (Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 17– 33.
  41. [54]L. Larsson, “ Mid Neolithic enclosures in Southern Scandinavia” in Enclosing the Neolithic: Recent Studies in Britain and Europe, A. Gibson, Ed. (Archaeopress, 2012), pp. 109– 123.
  42. [56]C. Horn, Trouble in paradise? – Violent conflict in Funnel-Beaker societies. Oxford J. Archaeol. 40, 43– 64 (2021).
  43. [58]L. Blomqvist, “ Megalitgravarna i Sverige: typ, tid, rum och social miljö,” Dissertation, University Stockholm, Stockholm (1989).
  44. [60]W. Haak, Ancient DNA, Strontium isotopes, and osteological analyses shed light on social and kinship organization of the later stone age. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 105, 18226– 18231 (2008). 19015520 PMC2587582
  45. [61]N. Sala, Lethal interpersonal violence in the pleistocene. PLoS One 10, e0126589 (2015). 26018668 PMC4446311
  46. [62]J. Wicke, A. Neubert, R. Bindl, H. Bruchhaus, “ Injured–but special? On associations between skull defects and burial treatment in the Corded Ware culture of Central Germany” in Sticks, Stones, and Broken Bones. Neolithic Violence in a European Perspective, R. Schulting, L. Fibiger, Eds. (Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 151– 174.
  47. [64]M. Teschler-Nicola, “ The Early Neolithic site Asparn/Schletz (Lower Austria): Anthropological evidence of interpersonal violence” in Sticks, Stones, and Broken Bones. Neolithic Violence in a European Perspective, R. Schulting, L. Fibiger, Eds. (Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 101– 120.
  48. [65]C. Meyer, Early Neolithic executions indicated by clustered cranial trauma in the mass grave of Halberstadt. Nat. Commun. 9, 2473 (2018). 29941965 PMC6018543
  49. [66]A. Duering, J. Wahl, A massacred village community? Agent-based modelling sheds new light on the demography of the Neolithic mass grave of Talheim. Anthropol. Anz. 71, 447– 468 (2014). 25774830
  50. [67]A. Zeeb-Lanz, “ The Herxheim ritual enclosure – a synthesis of results and interpretative approaches” in Ritualised Destruction in the Early Neolithic – The Exceptional Site of Herxheim (Palatinate, Germany) Volume 2, A. Zeeb-Lanz, Ed. (GDKE, 2019). pp. 423– 466.
  51. [68]C. Meyer, “ Mass graves of the LBK. patterns and peculiarities” in Early Farmers. The View from Archaeology and Science, A. Whittle, P. Bickle, Eds. (Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 307– 325.
  52. [69]I. Crevecoeur, M.-H. Dias-Meirinho, A. Zazzo, D. Antoine, F. Bon, New insights on interpersonal violence in the late pleistocene based on the Nile Valley cemetery of Jebel Sahaba. Sci. Rep. 11, 9991 (2021). 34045477 PMC8159958
  53. [70]M. Mirazón Lahr, Inter-group violence among early holocene hunter-gatherers of West Turkana, Kenya. Nature 529, 394– 398 (2016). 26791728
  54. [71]M. Furholt, N. Müller-Scheeßel, M. Wunderlich, I. Cheben, J. Müller, Communality and discord in an Early Neolithic settlement agglomeration: The LBK site of vráble, southwest Slovakia. Cambridge Archaeol. J. 30, 469– 489 (2020).
  55. [73]I. Janković, J. Balen, H. Potrebica, J. C. M. Ahern, M. Novak, Mass violence in Copper Age Europe: The massacre burial site from Potočani, Croatia. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol 176, 474– 485 (2021). 34418068
  56. [75]C. J. Knüsel, “ Social tolerance and violence at Neolithic Çatalhöyük (7100-5950 cal. BC)” in Communities at Work. The Making of Çatalhöyük, I. Hodder, C. Tsoraki, Eds. (British Institute at Ankara Monograph 56. Çatalhöyük Research Project Series 15, 2021), pp. 243– 261.
  57. [76]D. Fry, Beyond War: The Human Potential for Peace (Oxford University Press, 2009).
  58. [79]T. Darvill, “ Megalithic tombs, barrows and enclosures in fourth millennium BC Britain” in Giants in the Landscape: Monumentality and Territories in the European Neolithic, V. Ard, L. Pillot, Eds. (Archaeopress, 2016), pp. 3– 18.
  59. [80]C. J. Knüsel, M. J. Smith, Eds., The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Human Conflict (Routledge, 2013).
  60. [81]M. Daly, M. Wilson, Life expectancy, economic inequality, homicide, and reproductive timing in Chicago neighbourhoods. BMJ 314, 1271– 1274 (1997). 9154035 PMC2126620
  61. [83]J. M. Grünberg, “ Mesolithic burials – Rites, symbols and social organisation of early postglacial communities” in Mesolithic Burials – Rites, Symbols and Social Organisation of Early Postglacial Communities, J. M. Grünberg, B. Gramsch, L. Larsson, J. Orschiedt, H. Meller, Eds. (Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle, 2016), pp. 1– 24.
  62. [85]C. Fowler, A high-resolution picture of kinship practices in an Early Neolithic tomb. Nature 601, 584– 588 (2022). 34937939 PMC8896835
  63. [86]K. F. Otterbein, Killing of captured enemies: A cross-cultural study. Curr. Anthropol. 41, 439– 443. 10768886
  64. [88]P. Dwyer, M. Micale, Eds., The Darker Angels of Our Nature: Refuting the Pinker Theory of History and Violence (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021).

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Fibiger, L., Ahlström, T., Meyer, C., & Smith, M.
Affiliations
  • University of Edinburgh (GB)
  • Lund University (SE)
  • OsteoARC - OsteoArchaeological Research Centre, Goslar 38644, Germany
  • Bournemouth University (GB)
Corresponding author
Fibiger, Linda
ORCID
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Published
2023-01-17
Volume
120
Issue
4
Pages
e2209481119-e2209481119
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
DOI
10.1073/pnas.2209481119
PMC
PMC9942812
OpenAlex
W4317033244
Cited by
52
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 9
FWCI
52.83
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Bournemouth University Research Online (Bournemouth University) (submittedVersion)
  • Lund University Publications (Lund University) (submittedVersion)
  • Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Archaeological and Geological Studies
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
Keywords
interpersonal violence, Neolithic, bioarchaeology, skeletal trauma, intergroup conflict, food production, skeletal remains, northwestern Europe
MeSH terms
Farmers, Europe, Humans, Violence, Warfare

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review