Neanderthal murder mystery reveals a tale of violence and compassion

University of Cambridge

Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a Neanderthal whose life came to a brutal end 75,000 years ago when a sharpened wooden spear plunged into the individual’s chest in one of the earliest known examples of a possible homicide.

A neat, circular hole in the hominin’s shoulder blade suggested the weapon penetrated the chest, traveling through the lung and major arteries before punching the hole in the bone. It likely killed the Neanderthal instantly or shortly after, according to a study in the journal Scientific Reports published on Thursday.

But the archaeologists who excavated the new skeletal fragments from Shanidar Cave in the Kurdistan region of Iraq say the fossils weave a complex tale of Neanderthal life and death, beyond what appeared to be deliberate violence.

Scientists reveal the face of a Neanderthal who lived 75,000 years ago

During separate excavations in 2019 and 2022, the team found the Neanderthal’s scapula — a flat, triangular bone — preserved in 24 feet (7.5 meters) of rock and earth, along with a mostly complete right hand, two left ribs, a right rib fragment and seven teeth. The Neanderthal, known as Shanidar A, was thought to have been about age 45 at the time of death, but archaeologists could not determine the individual’s sex.

The fatal wound was not the only injury the hominin sustained.

One tooth found at the site was split, suggesting blunt-force trauma to the face. However, the build-up of dental calculus over the tooth’s root canal suggested that the injury likely occurred earlier in life and the individual may have received care from other members of the group, such as the preparation of soft, mashed food that would have been easier to eat. Previous research from the same site suggests that Neanderthals may have soaked and cooked meals of plants and legumes together.

“Surviving a blow that splits a tooth in this fashion, then continuing to live and eat for a period of at least a year and maybe more, would have required care and support from other Neanderthals,” said the study’s lead author Emma Pomeroy, an associate professor in the evolution of health, diet and disease at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Archaeology, in a news release.

“The remains of Shanidar A reflect the dual nature of so much of what we recognise as human. On the one hand, we have evidence of a terribly violent end. On the other, this was clearly an individual who was cared for during their lifetime,” Pomeroy added in the press release.

The findings add to growing evidence of social support and care among Neanderthals. For example, a 2017 study on a fossil found in the same cave revealed a male Neanderthal who had been deaf, paralyzed in the arm and likely partially blinded from head trauma, yet he lived far into adulthood — about 50 to 60 years old — suggesting others may have cared for him.

A fossilized ear bone found at a site in Spain offered evidence in 2024 that Neanderthals may have cared for a child with Down syndrome , while another discovery in Siberia published in May suggested the extinct humans practiced a crude form of dentistry , potentially on each other.

Pomeroy and her colleagues determined that the 15 millimeter-wide circular perforation in the shoulder blade was likely caused by a thrusting weapon or a projectile made of sharpened wood. A spear tipped with stone would have left an angular or lozenge-shaped hole, they wrote in the study.

It’s possible the death was a hunting accident, but Pomeroy said the position of the wound and the force required to push it all the way through the Neanderthal’s body “bear the hallmarks of an intended kill shot directed towards the heart.”

Dirk Leder et al. (eds), Weapons, Tools and Technology (2026)

Fossils from the Middle Paleolithic era, or Middle Stone Age, from 250,000 to around 30,000 years ago, commonly show signs of traumatic injury, but these wounds are mostly linked to probable accidents, perhaps due to hunting at close quarters, the study noted. Examples of interpersonal violence are rare among Stone Age remains, only becoming common later as hunting and gathering gave way to settled farming communities.

The authors said that Shanidar A’s wound may be the earliest example of an ancient human relative killed with a wooden spear. The remains of another Neanderthal unearthed from the cave in the 1960s and dated to around 50,000 years old, also showed evidence of a puncture wound but it aligned more closely with a stone-tipped spear injury. Forensic analysis of hominin skulls from the cave Sima de los Huesos in Spain indicate intentional lethal violence that occurred 430,000 years ago — earlier than Shanidar A’s demise — although it’s not clear what kind of weapon was used.

Neanderthals lived across Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia for around 300,000 years until they went extinct around 40,000 years ago. DNA analysis from present-day humans has revealed that, during the tens of thousands of years the two groups overlapped, Neanderthals and Homo sapiens occasionally encountered one another and interbred.

Mike Kemp/In Pictures/In Pictures via Getty Images

What happened when humans and Neanderthals hooked up

The authors noted the circumstances surrounding the violent act, and whether other early humans could have been involved in the individual’s death, were completely unknown. The team said they plan to conduct future experiments to better understand the level of force necessary to inflict the wound, which could help clarify if foul play actually occurred between Neanderthals.

It’s difficult for scientists to distinguish accidental injury from deliberate violence, but “a spear wound through the shoulder while facing the victim” supports the latter, said John McNabb, an emeritus professor of paleolithic archaeology at the University of Southampton’s Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins.

Finding two individuals at the same site with serious yet healed injuries “strongly suggests that caring for others was a part of this group’s behaviour, and given the timescale we are dealing with, over a long period of time,” added McNabb , who was not involved in the new study.

The acts of compassion are a “deeply significant discovery in itself,” he said in an email. “But it is at odds with the killing of Shanidar A with a spear. Here we are on less sure ground. Murder? Attack from a rival Neanderthal group? We just do not know.”

While the study was unable to accurately determine the cause of death, the evidence presented by Pomeroy and her team “adds to another chapter of both Neanderthal trauma and Neanderthal care,” said Bruce Hardy, an anthropology professor at Kenyon College in Ohio, who wasn’t involved in the research.

“The site of Shanidar continues to astound even some 60 years after its initial excavation,” he said via email.

The cave where Shanidar A was found is a well-known hominin burial site. In 1960 researchers discovered several graves that contained pollen traces, which led the field to believe that Neanderthals may have interred their dead with flowers — the first findings to challenge the prevailing view that the ancient human species were unintelligent and brutish.

Pomeroy’s team led subsequent research, which began new excavations at the site in 2015, that has cast doubt on the flower burial theory. Instead, they suspect the pollen discovered among the graves may have been introduced in much more recent history via pollinating bees .

Courtesy Christopher Owen Hunt

A ‘flower burial’ unearthed in 1960 reshaped the study of Neanderthals. A new discovery calls it into question

While the pollen evidence may still be up for debate, Pomeroy and her colleagues believe Neanderthals repeatedly returned to Shanidar Cave to lay their dead to rest, including the remains of Shanidar A. This suggests they cared for each other in death as well as life. Including Shanidar A, at least five Neanderthal individuals, four adults and an infant, were found in a small space tucked behind a rock with a height of about two meters (6 feet and 5 inches). The new Neanderthal remains are part of a “remarkable cluster” that shared the same rituals around death,” Pomeroy said in an email.

“They were placed at different times, but within living memory of each other — so over the space of years or decades — indicating this spot in the cave and perhaps the cave itself was important in some way,” she added.

剑桥大学

考古学家发掘出一具尼安德特人的遗骸，他的生命在75000年前以残酷的方式结束，一根削尖的木矛刺入了他的胸膛，这是已知最早的疑似谋杀案之一。

尼安德特人肩胛骨上一个整齐的圆形孔洞表明，凶器穿透了胸部，穿过肺部和主要动脉，最终在骨头上留下了孔洞。根据周四发表在《科学报告》杂志上的一项研究，这很可能导致尼安德特人当场死亡或不久后死亡。

但从伊拉克库尔德斯坦地区的沙尼达尔洞穴挖掘出新骨骼碎片的考古学家表示，这些化石讲述了一个关于尼安德特人生活和死亡的复杂故事，而不仅仅是蓄意的暴力行为。

科学家揭示了生活在75000年前的尼安德特人的面容

在2019年和2022年的两次独立挖掘中，考古队在7.5米（24英尺）厚的岩土层中发现了尼安德特人的肩胛骨——一块扁平的三角形骨骼——以及一只基本完整的右手、两根左肋骨、一块右肋骨碎片和七颗牙齿。这名尼安德特人被命名为沙尼达尔A，据推测去世时年龄约为45岁，但考古学家无法确定其性别。

致命伤并非这名古人类所受的唯一伤势。

遗址中发现的一颗牙齿已经裂开，表明面部曾遭受钝器外伤。然而，牙齿根管内积聚的牙结石表明，这种损伤可能发生在更早的时期，而且这个人可能得到了群体其他成员的照料，例如准备易于食用的软烂食物。此前对同一遗址的研究表明，尼安德特人可能将植物和豆类一起浸泡烹煮。

“像这样牙齿被击裂后还能继续生存和进食至少一年甚至更长时间，这需要其他尼安德特人的照顾和支持，”该研究的主要作者、剑桥大学考古系健康、饮食和疾病进化副教授艾玛·波默罗伊在一份新闻稿中说。

“沙尼达尔A的遗骸反映了我们所认知的人类特质的双重性。一方面，有证据表明他死于极其暴力的手段。另一方面，显然他生前曾受到悉心照料，”波默罗伊在新闻稿中补充道。

这些发现进一步佐证了尼安德特人之间存在社会支持和互助关系。例如，2017 年一项针对同一洞穴中发现的化石的研究显示，一名男性尼安德特人耳聋、手臂瘫痪，头部可能也遭受了创伤导致部分失明，但他却活到了成年——大约 50 至 60 岁——这表明他可能得到了其他人的照顾。

2024 年，在西班牙一处遗址发现的一块化石耳骨提供了证据，表明尼安德特人可能照顾过患有唐氏综合症的儿童；而 5 月份在西伯利亚发表的另一项发现表明，已灭绝的人类可能进行过一种原始的牙科治疗，或许是互相治疗。

波默罗伊和她的同事们确定，肩胛骨上直径15毫米的圆形穿孔很可能是由刺击武器或削尖的木制弹丸造成的。他们在研究中写道，如果是石尖长矛，则会留下棱角分明或菱形的孔洞。

这场死亡可能是一场狩猎意外，但波默罗伊表示，伤口的位置以及将伤口完全穿透尼安德特人身体所需的力“都带有蓄意射杀、瞄准心脏的典型特征”。

Dirk Leder 等人（编），《武器、工具和技术》（2026 年）

研究指出，中石器时代（或称旧石器时代中期，距今约25万年至3万年前）的化石通常显示出创伤痕迹，但这些伤口大多与意外事故有关，例如近距离狩猎造成的伤害。石器时代遗骸中人际暴力的例子很少见，直到狩猎采集让位于定居农业社区后才变得普遍。

作者指出，沙尼达尔A的伤口可能是已知最早的古人类亲属被木矛杀害的案例。20世纪60年代从该洞穴出土的另一具尼安德特人遗骸，年代约为5万年前，也显示出刺伤痕迹，但更符合石矛造成的伤口特征。对西班牙西玛德洛斯韦索斯洞穴出土的古人类头骨的法医分析表明，早在43万年前（比沙尼达尔A的死亡时间更早），就曾发生过蓄意致死的暴力事件，但尚不清楚当时使用了何种武器。

尼安德特人生活在欧洲、中东和中亚地区约30万年，直到大约4万年前灭绝。对现代人类的DNA分析表明，在这两个群体重叠的数万年间，尼安德特人和智人偶尔会相遇并杂交。

Mike Kemp/In Pictures/In Pictures via Getty Images

人类和尼安德特人结合后发生了什么？

作者指出，这起暴力事件的具体情况，以及其他早期人类是否参与了死者的死亡，都完全未知。研究团队表示，他们计划开展后续实验，以更好地了解造成这种伤口所需的力度，这或许有助于厘清尼安德特人之间是否真的存在谋杀行为。

科学家很难区分意外伤害和蓄意暴力，但“面对受害者时肩膀被长矛刺穿”这一事实支持了后者，南安普顿大学人类起源考古中心旧石器时代考古学荣誉教授约翰·麦克纳布 (John McNabb) 表示。

在同一地点发现两名伤势严重但已痊愈的人，“强烈表明照顾他人是该群体行为的一部分，而且考虑到我们所讨论的时间尺度，这种行为持续了很长时间，”麦克纳布补充道，他并未参与这项新研究。

他在一封电子邮件中写道，这些同情行为本身就是一项“意义深远的发现”。“但这与沙尼达尔·A被长矛杀死的事件相矛盾。在这方面，我们掌握的信息并不确凿。是谋杀？还是来自敌对尼安德特人群体的袭击？我们不得而知。”

虽然这项研究未能准确确定死因，但波莫罗伊和她的团队提出的证据“为尼安德特人的创伤和护理增添了新的篇章”，俄亥俄州凯尼恩学院的人类学教授布鲁斯·哈迪（他没有参与这项研究）说道。

“即使在最初发掘60年后，沙尼达尔遗址仍然令人惊叹，”他通过电子邮件表示。

发现沙尼达尔A洞穴的地点是著名的古人类墓葬遗址。1960年，研究人员发现了数座含有花粉痕迹的墓穴，这使该领域相信尼安德特人可能用鲜花陪葬——这是首次挑战当时普遍认为古人类愚钝野蛮的观点。

波默罗伊的团队随后开展了研究，并于2015年开始在该遗址进行新的挖掘，这些研究对花葬理论提出了质疑。他们怀疑，在墓葬中发现的花粉可能是近代由授粉蜜蜂带入的。

承蒙克里斯托弗·欧文·亨特惠允

1960年出土的一处“花葬”遗址改变了人们对尼安德特人的研究。但一项新的发现对此提出了质疑。

尽管花粉证据仍有待商榷，但波莫罗伊及其同事认为，尼安德特人曾多次返回沙尼达尔洞穴安葬逝者，其中包括沙尼达尔A的遗骸。这表明他们在生前和死后都彼此关怀。包括沙尼达尔A在内，至少有五具尼安德特人遗骸被发现，其中包括四名成年人和一名婴儿，它们位于一块约两米高的岩石后方的一小块空间内。波莫罗伊在一封电子邮件中表示：“这些新发现的尼安德特人遗骸属于一个‘非凡的群体’，他们拥有相同的丧葬仪式。”

她补充说：“它们被放置的时间不同，但都在人们的记忆范围内——也就是说，时间跨度为几年或几十年——这表明洞穴中的这个位置，或许还有洞穴本身，在某种程度上很重要。”