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Neanderthal skull: World's first recorded murder?

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Robert LeCompte

A team of archaeologists published a study in the scientific journal PLOS ONE detailing a 430,000-year-old Neanderthal skull that could belong to the victim of the world's earliest recorded murder. The evidence revolves around 52 cranial fragments found near the skull and two penetrating wounds above the left eye. A CT scan showed that the wounds are the result of two different impacts from the same weapon at slightly different trajectories. The site where the skull was found, Sima de los Huesos (or, "Pit of Bones") in Spain is also home to 27 other Neanderthal skeletons, which "may represent the earliest funerary behavior in the human fossil record," says the study.

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By Robert LeCompte

Robert LeCompte is an editorial intern at Crosscut. He studies communications and film at The Evergreen State College where he recently transferred from Maryland. When not working, he can usually be f