Bronze Age burial site a ‘revenge massacre’ where 37 people were eaten
It is the largest-scale example of interpersonal violence from British prehistory, scientists have said
Prehistoric humans located at a burial site Somerset were butchered and likely consumed by their enemies during the Early Bronze Age, an archaeological study has found.
The bones of more than 37 men, women and children which appeared to have suffered a violent death from blunt force trauma were discovered in a shaft 15-metres deep at Charterhouse Warren in the 70s.
Researchers examined over 3,000 human bones and bone fragments from the site and found numerous cut-marks and fractures caused near the time of death, suggesting the victims were butchered and probably consumed by their enemies in an attempt to dehumanize them by likening them to animals.
The findings, only now published in the Antiquity journal, are believed to have uncovered the largest-scale example of interpersonal violence in British prehistory.
Prehistoric human remains have also been found at the nearby Palaeolithic site of Goughâs Cave in Cheddar Gorge which showed clear evidence of cannibalism.



While cannibalism was likely a form of funerary ritual at Cheddar Gorge, archaeologists believe the victims of the killings at Charterhouse Warren were consumed by an attempt to âotherâ them.
Rick Schulting, professor of scientific and prehistoric archaeology at the University of Oxford and lead author of the study, said: âThe evidence for this comes from the way the bodies have been treated, with cut marks on the bones showing how they were first dismembered and then the flesh removed and the bones broken open.
âThis is very similar to what we would see in a butchered animal bone assemblage.
âIt is possible that this was done more to treat the victims as though they were animals, in order to dehumanise them, than it was to consume their flesh. But we are continuing to do more research on this point.â
Hundreds of human skeletons have been found in Britain dating between approximately 2500-1500 cal. BC, but direct evidence for violent conflict is rare.
âUntil now, we have had very limited evidence for violence in Early Bronze Age Britain,â said Professor Schulting.
âThere are a few skeletons with injuries, but overall the dominant impression has been of a relatively peaceful time.
âWe have more evidence for conflict from the Early Neolithic (abuot 1500 years before Charterhouse) and the Middle and Late Bronze Age, when the first bespoke weapons â swords â appear, along with hilltop fortifications towards the end of the period. But sometimes a single site can radically change our perceptions, and I think that Charterhouse has the potential to do just that.â
The study ruled out resource competition and climate change as factors that may have sparked the killings.


Researchers also found no genetic evidence showing the co-existence of communities with different ancestries that could have led to ethnic conflict, meaning the killings were likely caused by social factors, such as tensions from insults or thefts which escalated.
Professor Schulting said: âThe extreme violence seen here is unlikely to have been an isolated incident.
âThere would have been repercussions, as the relatives and friends of the victims sought revenge, and this could have led to cycles of violence in the region.â
Evidence of the plague in the teeth of two children also indicated that disease may have exacerbated tensions.

âThe finding of evidence of the plague in previous research by colleagues from The Francis Crick Institute was completely unexpected,â said Professor Schulting.
âWeâre still unsure whether, and if so how, this is related to the violence at the site.â
The findings question the widespread view that the Early Bronze Age was a relatively peaceful period of British prehistory.
âCharterhouse Warren is one of those rare archaeological sites that challenges the way we think about the pastâ, Professor Schulting said.
âIt is a stark reminder that people in prehistory could match more recent atrocities and shines a light on a dark side of human behaviour. That it is unlikely to have been a one-off event makes it even more important that its story is told.â