A small, circular hole in a 75,000-year-old Neanderthal shoulder blade may reveal one of the earliest known cases of deadly violence involving a wooden spear. The remarkable discovery, made in a cave in Iraqi Kurdistan, suggests that the individual was struck by a sharpened wooden weapon that passed through the chest, potentially in a deliberate attack aimed at the heart.
Researchers believe the wound could represent the oldest evidence in the hominin fossil record of fatal interpersonal violence involving a wooden spear.
The shoulder blade (scapula) is an unusually delicate bone, with some areas so thin that light can pass through them. Despite its fragile structure, the Neanderthal’s bone survived for approximately 75,000 years beneath seven and a half meters of rock and sediment. Almost the entire bone remained intact, except for a remarkably precise circular opening measuring 15 millimeters across.
A Deadly Spear Wound Reveals a Neanderthal’s Violent Death
Archaeologists from the University of Cambridge, who led the excavation, believe the hole was created by a spear with a sharpened wooden point. Its rounded shape is an important clue because weapons tipped with flint or stone generally produce openings with flatter or more angular edges.
Their reconstruction suggests that the spear entered the front of the Neanderthal’s left chest, passed through a lung and probably major blood vessels, and continued until it pierced the shoulder blade from behind. Such a severe injury would have caused rapid death. The researchers suspect the blow may have been an intentional “heart shot.”
The physical evidence offers additional clues about how the attack occurred. The opening has beveled edges, a feature commonly associated with an exit wound. Small bone fragments displaced during the impact indicate that the weapon likely entered from above and traveled downward through the body.
Using these fragments, the scientists were able to partially reconstruct the damaged area. Subtle ridges left by muscle attachments helped them determine where the pieces originally belonged.
“It’s extraordinary to have a perfectly preserved scapula from 75,000 years ago. These bones are so thin that you often don’t get complete scapulae from modern burials,” said Dr. Emma Pomeroy, study lead author from Cambridge’s Department of Archaeology. “We were able to lift it out in one piece from under almost eight meters of rock and sediment.”
The remains have been named Shanidar A after the cave where they were uncovered. The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Ancient Wooden Spears Were Sophisticated Hunting Weapons
Although sharpened wooden weapons were used hundreds of thousands of years ago, relatively few examples have survived. Wood usually decays over time, making it exceptionally difficult for archaeologists to recover evidence of ancient woodworking and weapon technology.
One important discovery occurred in the 1990s at Schöningen, Germany, where researchers uncovered wooden spears preserved in waterlogged conditions. Dating back roughly 200,000 years, these weapons were made during a period when early Neanderthals inhabited Europe.
Some measured more than two meters in length. Their makers carefully selected the wood and shaped the spears to achieve a balance suitable for throwing, much like modern javelins. Archaeologists believe they were probably used to hunt large animals.
Even older evidence comes from Clacton-on-Sea in the United Kingdom. In 1911, a pointed wooden fragment was recovered from the shoreline and later identified as part of a spear more than 400,000 years old. Only its tip had survived, making it the earliest known example of a rounded wooden spear.
The Cambridge researchers believe comparable weapons could have been responsible for Shanidar A’s death. If their interpretation is correct, the injury may provide the first evidence that sharpened wooden spears were used in the prehistoric Middle East.
“Holes left by recreations of spears from this time are an excellent fit for the one we found in the Neanderthal scapula,” said Pomeroy, a fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge. “That early technology absolutely works for this wound.”
“What evidence we have suggests that Neanderthals and their ancestors developed woodworking and weapon-making skills many thousands of years before the death of Shanidar A. This package of capabilities could have spanned the full range of Neanderthal homelands, from Wales to Siberia.”
Was the Neanderthal Deliberately Killed?
The discovery raises a difficult question: Was Shanidar A the victim of a deliberate attack, or did a hunting accident cause the fatal injury?
Pomeroy acknowledges that accidents involving wooden spears would have been possible, particularly when Neanderthals hunted large, dangerous animals at close range.
“Animals such as mammoths may have been hunted up close with thrusting spears, so it’s easy to imagine lethal injuries.”
Nevertheless, certain features of the wound suggest that the blow may have been intentional rather than accidental.
“The position of the wound and the force required to push it right through the Neanderthal’s body bear the hallmarks of an intended kill shot directed towards the heart.”
The researchers cannot determine exactly what happened or who wielded the weapon. It is also impossible to establish whether modern humans played any role. However, they consider violence between Neanderthals the simplest explanation consistent with the available evidence.
“All we can ever know about the end of this Neanderthal’s life is that it was violent, and came at the end of a wooden spear,” said Prof Graeme Barker, fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge, who leads the Shanidar Cave excavations.
“Evidence of systematic violence is extremely rare in deep prehistory. The vast majority comes from periods of settled farming communities thousands of years after hunter-gather societies like our Neanderthals.”
A Shattered Tooth Reveals a Surprising Story of Compassion
Although Shanidar A appears to have died violently, other evidence suggests this individual received considerable care earlier in life.
Alongside the shoulder blade, archaeologists recovered a nearly complete right hand, two ribs from the left side, a fragment of a right rib, and seven teeth. Together, these are the surviving remains of an adult Neanderthal believed to have been approximately 45 years old at death.
One tooth provides particularly revealing evidence about the individual’s life. An incisor from the front of the lower jaw had been split vertically, leaving just half of the tooth intact. Neighboring teeth had also been forced inward.
Researchers believe the damage resulted from a powerful blow to the face. The surviving half of the incisor had accumulated substantial tartar (dental calculus) along its exposed root canal, indicating that the damaged tooth remained in the mouth for an extended period after the injury.
This buildup suggests that Shanidar A survived the original trauma rather than dying immediately. Such extensive facial damage would likely have made eating and communicating extremely painful and difficult.
“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 Pomeroy.
The researchers suggest that other members of the group may have helped Shanidar A survive by providing softer foods. Earlier studies of sediments from Shanidar Cave found evidence that Neanderthals were soaking plant foods before cooking them around this period.
This method of food preparation could have made meals easier for someone suffering from severe facial injuries.
“There’s no doubt that Shanidar A would have had difficulty communicating and been in absolute agony for a long period of time.”
For the scientists, these findings reveal two seemingly opposite aspects of Neanderthal behavior in the life of a single individual.
“The remains of Shanidar A reflect the dual nature of so much of what we recognize 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.”
Prof Barker said: “It is fascinating to have evidence for both compassion and violence amongst Neanderthals, our closest evolutionary cousins, embodied in this one individual.”
Shanidar Cave Is Transforming Our Understanding of Neanderthals
Shanidar Cave, situated in the foothills of Iraqi Kurdistan, has played a major role in changing scientific views of Neanderthal behavior.
During the 1950s, excavations led by archaeologist Ralph Solecki uncovered the remains of ten Neanderthals. Four individuals were found grouped together in the same location, even though they had died at different times.
Their placement suggested that Neanderthals may have repeatedly returned to a particular part of the cave to bury their dead.
Another remarkable discovery from a different section of the cave involved a Neanderthal who lived thousands of years later. This individual had experienced serious physical disabilities, including a paralyzed arm, arthritis, hearing loss, and partial blindness.
Despite these conditions, the individual survived to an advanced age, suggesting that other members of the community provided assistance and care.
Discoveries like these helped overturn the image of Neanderthals that prevailed during the Victorian era, when they were often portrayed as primitive, brutish, and less than fully human.
Subsequent research has revealed increasingly sophisticated behavior, including cave art and jewelry. Genetic studies have also established that Neanderthals interbred with modern humans, leaving traces of their DNA in populations alive today.
Evidence Suggests Neanderthals Returned to Bury Their Dead
Shanidar A, excavated in 2020, adds another important piece to this growing picture of Neanderthal society.
Since 2015, the Cambridge-led archaeological team has identified three additional Neanderthals within the cave’s previously known cluster of remains. These discoveries bring the number of individuals in that particular burial area to five, consisting of four adults and one infant.
All five were found within an extraordinarily confined space measuring approximately 1.5 meters long, one meter wide, and one meter deep.
The location lies immediately behind a large upright boulder that researchers describe as a “prominent marker.” Thin layers of sediment separate the individual sets of remains, indicating that the bodies were deposited at different times.
Shanidar A was discovered at the greatest depth within the cluster and may have been the first individual placed there. The body was positioned on its back, with the head pointing east. The Neanderthal found directly above it had been arranged in a similar position.
These patterns suggest that the cave’s occupants were not simply leaving bodies wherever space was available. Instead, they may have deliberately chosen a particular location and returned to it repeatedly to lay deceased members of their community to rest.
“The best explanation is intentional and symbolic funerary behavior,” said Pomeroy. “These Neanderthals returned to the same place to lay their dead to rest. Some were deposited before the earlier body had fully decomposed, so this was happening within years or decades.”
Taken together, the discoveries at Shanidar Cave paint a complex picture of Neanderthal life 75,000 years ago. The same individual who may have died in a deliberate spear attack had apparently survived a devastating earlier injury with the help of others and was eventually placed in a location that may have held special significance for the community.
Far from fitting the outdated stereotype of Neanderthals as simple, brutal creatures, Shanidar A provides rare physical evidence of a society capable of both deadly violence and sustained compassion.
