Mystery Of Charterhouse Warren’s Early Bronze Age Site Solved By Scientists

Conny Waters - AncientPages.com - In the 1970s, archaeologists uncovered the remains of at least 37 individuals in a 15-meter-deep shaft at Charterhouse Warren, Somerset, UK. This group included men, women, and children, indicating they represented a community. The key question is: who were these people, and what led to their demise?

Background: Charterhouse Warren site. Credit: Ron Strutt - CC BY-SA 2.0 - Right bottom: Examined skull in this study. Credit: Credit: Antiquity - Image compilation - AncientPages.com

Unlike typical burials from that era, the skulls showed signs of violent deaths caused by blunt force trauma. To solve this mystery, researchers from various European institutions conducted an analysis of the bones.

Their study of over 3,000 human bones and fragments from this Early Bronze Age site revealed that these individuals were victims of a massacre. They were butchered and possibly partially consumed by their enemies as an act intended to dehumanize them. Meanwhile, hundreds of human skeletons date from approximately 2500 to 1500 cal. B.C. have been found in Britain, and direct evidence for such violent conflict is uncommon.

"We actually find more evidence for injuries to skeletons dating to the Neolithic period in Britain than the Early Bronze Age, so Charterhouse Warren stands out as something very unusual," states lead author of the research, Professor Rick Schulting from the University of Oxford.

"It paints a considerably darker picture of the period than many would have expected."

Researchers have discovered numerous cut marks and perimortem fractures on bones from Early Bronze Age site, indicating intentional butchery and possible partial consumption. This raises the question of why cannibalism occurred during this period. Unlike the funerary ritual cannibalism at Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge, Charterhouse Warren presents evidence of violent deaths without signs of a struggle, suggesting victims were ambushed and massacred by enemies.

The presence of abundant cattle bones alongside human remains suggests that food scarcity was not a motive for cannibalism at Charterhouse Warren. Instead, it appears that consuming human flesh served to dehumanize the deceased by equating them with animals.

The underlying causes of this violence are unclear, as resource competition and climate change do not seem to have intensified conflict in Britain during this time. Additionally, no genetic evidence points to ethnic conflict between communities with different ancestries. This implies that social factors may have driven the violence—perhaps theft or insults escalated tensions beyond control. The discovery of plague infections in two children's teeth suggests disease might have further heightened these tensions.

Examples of skulls from the assemblage, with evidence for blunt force trauma and cut marks. Credit: Antiquity

"The finding of evidence of the plague in previous research by colleagues from The Francis Crick Institute was completely unexpected," says Professor Schulting. "We're still unsure whether, and if so how, this is related to the violence at the site."

The findings ultimately reveal a depiction of prehistoric societies where perceived insults and cycles of revenge often led to disproportionately violent actions. This scenario is, regrettably, reminiscent of patterns observed in more recent historical contexts.

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"Charterhouse Warren is one of those rare archaeological sites that challenges the way we think about the past," Professor Schulting concludes. "It is a stark reminder that people in prehistory could match more recent atrocities and shines a light on a dark side of human behavior. That it is unlikely to have been a one-off event makes it even more important that its story is told."

The study was published in Antiquity

Written by Conny Waters - AncientPages.com Staff Writer