Family graves from Eulau

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Family graves from Eulau in the State Museum

The family graves of Eulau ( Burgenlandkreis , Saxony-Anhalt ) are a group of four multiple burials. In addition to several other findings , they were located and secured in 2005 during an archaeological rescue excavation in the course of gravel mining on a high terrace near Eulau (district of Naumburg ).

All four graves were recovered in the block and then examined in the restoration workshop of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle . In the course of this, the family relationships of the buried and their injuries or causes of death could be determined through anthropological examinations and DNA analyzes. The DNA analyzes of all individuals with an associated quadruple burial provided evidence of the oldest safe nuclear family in the world to date. The graves date to the end of the 3rd millennium BC. BC and thus to the time of the Copper Stone Age corded ceramic culture . Today three of the four graves are exhibited in the permanent exhibition of the State Museum in Halle .

Archaeological findings and finds

The graves of Eulau are simple earth graves in round grave pits. Three of the four graves had circular trenches surrounding the grave pits. This finding suggests that the graves were probably covered by a burial mound .

A total of 13 people were buried in the graves: two men, three women and eight children. Four people are buried in two graves, three in one grave and two people's skeletal remains in the fourth. All of the buried are buried on their sides. The position of the dead among one another is striking. They are very close together and are partially facing each other so that their hands and faces touch each other.

The additions found in the graves correspond at least in part to the customary corded ceramic rite. The men are each given a stone ax to take to the grave and the women's skeletons have flint tools , bony needles and animal tooth pendants . In all graves, pork bones testify to food additions. The animals were probably slaughtered especially for burial.

Anthropological and DNA studies

The anthropological and paleopathological investigation of the four graves was carried out by the Institute for Anthropology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz . The following distribution of the individuals in the four graves was shown:

  • Grave 90: a woman (25–35 years) and a child (4–5 years)
  • Grave 93: a man (25–40 years) and two children (4–5 years)
  • Grave 98: a woman (30–38 years) and three children (0.5–1 years, 4–5 years and 7–9 years)
  • Grave 99: a woman (35–50 years), a man (40–60 years) and two children (4–5 years and 8–9 years)

In five of the 13 people, the cause of death was clearly determined by violence. The woman from grave 90 had a broken flint arrowhead stuck in the fourth lumbar vertebra and another arrowhead was found in the chest. She must have died of bleeding to death from these gunshot wounds within a few minutes. In other skeletons, fatal skull fractures have been demonstrated, which were caused by blunt force - presumably with stone axes. Further indications of a violent confrontation are typical injuries to the forearm and metacarpal caused by defensive and protective behavior.

In order to be able to demonstrate a possible family relationship between the dead, the aDNA of the dead was examined using bone samples . The analysis was carried out in the aDNA trace laboratory at the University of Mainz. It turned out that the four buried people from grave 99 were father, mother and their two children. For the first time a prehistoric nuclear family could be proven without a doubt. In addition, other genetic relationships between the buried people could be proven, such as a pair of siblings who were laid down together.

Another focus of the investigation was the analysis of the strontium isotopes , which was carried out by the University of Bristol . The investigation of isotopes can provide important information about the origin, mobility and migration behavior of a person. In the case of the Eulau burials, it was found that the strontium levels of women differed from those of men and children. While the latter stayed in the vicinity of Eulau all their lives, the women lived in another region during their childhood and only moved to the area around Eulau later.

Evaluation and interpretation

Based on the findings, it is possible that the 13 people were buried at the same time. Evidence for this is the similar method of burial and the close proximity of the graves to one another. The overlap in the 14C data also seems to reflect this. The injuries to the skeletons presumably suggest a violent confrontation - in which all 13 people died at the same time. Since the wounds are located on the back of the head, it may be possible to conclude that those killed were slain from behind while trying to escape.

The conscientious, almost loving burial of the dead and the orientation towards the usual funeral rites indicate that the dead were buried by the survivors of the community. These could have been young men and women who were missing from the dead and who might not have been in the settlement at the time of the attack.

The investigations into the family graves of Eulau have not yet been completed. Above all, the question of who was responsible for this attack continues to concern the scientists. The most important evidence is the "weapons used to kill" - above all the two arrowheads that killed one of the women and their cultural classification in the late Neolithic. These so-called cross cutters , for example, were used by the carriers of the Schönfeld culture .

literature

  • Robert Ganslmeier, Norma Literski-Henkel: The murder weapons from a grave of Corded Pottery from Eulau, Burgenlandkreis. Annual Journal for Central German Prehistory 94, 2014, pp. 29–82.
  • Wolfgang Haak, Oleg Balanovsky, Juan J. Sanchez, Sergey Koshel, Valery Zaporozhchenko, Christina J. Adler, Clio SI der Sarkissian, Guido Brand, Carolin Schwarz, Nicole Nicklisch, Veit Dresely, Barbara Fritsch, Elena Balanovska, Richard Villems, Harald Meller , Kurt W. Alt, Alan Cooper: Ancient DNA from European Early Neolithic Farmers Reveals Their Near Eastern Affinities. PLoS Biology 8 , 2010, pp. 1-16.
  • Wolfgang Haak, Guido Brandt, Hylke N. de Jong, Christian Meyer, Robert Ganslmeier, Volker Heyd, Chris Hawkesworth, Alistair WG Pike, Harald Meller, Kurt W. Alt: Ancient DNA, Strontium isotopes, and osteological analyzes shed light on social and kinship organization of the Later Stone Age. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA , Volume 105, 2008, pp. 18226-18231, doi: 10.1073 / pnas.0807592105 , full text (PDF; 756.43 kB).
  • Wolfgang Haak, Guido Brandt, Christian Meyer, Hylke N. de Jong, Robert Ganslmeier, Alistair WG Pike, Harald Meller, Kurt W. Alt: The cord ceramic family graves from Eulau - an extraordinary find and its interdisciplinary evaluation. In: H. Meller, KW Alt (Hrsg.): Anthropology, Isotopie and DNA - a biographical approach to nameless prehistoric skeletons? 2nd Central German Archaeological Day from October 8th to 10th, 2009 in Halle (Saale). Conferences of the State Museum of Prehistory, Halle 3 , Halle (Saale) 2010, pp. 53–62, ISBN 978-3-939414-53-7 .
  • Hylke N. de Jong, Gavin L. Foster, Volker Heyd, Alistair WG Pike: Further Sr isotopic studies on the Eulau multiple graves using laser ablation ICP-MS. In: H. Meller, KW Alt (Hrsg.): Anthropology, Isotopie and DNA - a biographical approach to nameless prehistoric skeletons? 2nd Central German Archaeological Day from October 8th to 10th, 2009 in Halle (Saale). Conferences of the State Museum of Prehistory, Halle 3, Halle (Saale) 2010, pp. 63–69, ISBN 978-3-939414-53-7 .
  • Christian Meyer, Guido Brandt, Wolfgang Haak, Robert Ganslmeier, Harald Meller, Kurt W. Alt: The Eulau eulogy: Bioarchaeological interpretation of lethal violence in Corded Ware multiple burials from Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Journal Anthr. Arch. 28 , 2009, pp. 412-423.
  • Arnold Muhl, Harald Meller , Klaus Heckenhahn: Eulau crime scene. A 4500 year old crime is solved. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-8062-2401-6 .

Web links

Commons : Eulau family graves  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 9 ′ 57 ″  N , 11 ° 50 ′ 49 ″  E