Contesting the massacre at Nataruk/Mirazón Lahr et al. reply

Mirazón Lahr et ul.1 present the earliest evidence of inter-group warfare at the East African site of Nataruk. Their evidence of warfare is based on three inferences: that the skeletons were all contemporaneous, that the bodies were left unburied, and that most individuals exhibited perimortem traum...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2016-11, Vol.539 (7630), p.E8
Main Authors: Stojanowski, Christopher M, Seidel, Andrew C, Fulginiti, Laura C, Johnson, Kent M, Buikstra, Jane E, Lahr, M Mirazón
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Forensic anthropology
Human remains
Massacres
Trauma
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Mirazón Lahr et ul.1 present the earliest evidence of inter-group warfare at the East African site of Nataruk. Their evidence of warfare is based on three inferences: that the skeletons were all contemporaneous, that the bodies were left unburied, and that most individuals exhibited perimortem trauma consistent with interpersonal violence. We believe the data suggest that the burials are not contemporaneous and that most of the observed cranial damage is inconsistent with blunt force trauma. Therefore, the inference of inter-group warfare is premature. There is a Reply to this Comment by Mirazón Lahr, M. et al. Nature 539, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature19779 (2016).
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/nature16477