Early Eneolithic multiple burial discovered in 2005 at Alba Iulia-Lumea Nouă (Transylvania, Romania) revealed various traumatic injuries on both adult and non-adult crania. The aim of this paper is to present the traumatic injuries on... more
Early Eneolithic multiple burial discovered in 2005 at Alba Iulia-Lumea Nouă (Transylvania, Romania) revealed various traumatic injuries on both adult and non-adult crania. The aim of this paper is to present the traumatic injuries on adult skulls and establish sex differences regarding type, location and shape of the skeletal lesions. Radiocarbon data indicates a timeframe 4621-4483 BC for this particular event. The minimum number of individuals based on cranial elements was established as being approximately 50, within this, 34 being represented by adult individuals. 23 restored skull caps were macroscopically determined as belonging to female individuals the rest being represented by male specimens. Multiple traumatic injuries were observed on several skull caps, but no postcranial injuries were identified.
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The uncommon funerary discoveries from 2003, 2005 and 2011 in Alba Iulia-Lumea Nouă eneolithic settlement are for the time being, unique in the territory of Romania. This study presents the archaeological context and the anthropological... more
The uncommon funerary discoveries from 2003, 2005 and 2011 in Alba Iulia-Lumea Nouă eneolithic settlement are for the time being, unique in the territory of Romania. This study presents the archaeological context and the anthropological data regarding the peri-mortem cranial fractures found on some of the individuals from Alba Iulia-Lumea Nouă and also presents a series of other archaeological contexts that can be interpreted as signs of violence between the prehistoric communities. These could be interpreted either as a new belief system regarding the funerary practices or as an outbreak of violence at the beginning of the mentioned period.
Keywords: Early Eneolithic, disarticulated human remains, violence, blunt force trauma, cranial fractures.
Keywords: Early Eneolithic, disarticulated human remains, violence, blunt force trauma, cranial fractures.