Possible Relationship of Cranial Traumatic Injuries With

Violence in the South-East Iberian Peninsula From the

Neolithic to the Bronze Age
S.A. Jime nez-Brobeil,* Ph. du Souich, and I. Al Oumaoui
Facultad de Medicina, Laboratorio de Antropologa, Universidad de Granada, Granada 18012, Spain
KEY WORDS Spanish prehistory; conicts; injuries
ABSTRACT The main aim of this study was to ana-
lyze the presence and distribution of cranial trauma, as
possible evidence of violence, in remains from the Neo-
lithic to Bronze Age from the SE Iberian Peninsula. The
sample contains skulls, crania, and cranial vaults
belonging to 410 prehistoric individuals. We also studied
267 crania from medieval and modern times for compar-
ative purposes. All lesions in the prehistoric crania are
healed and none of them can be attributed to a specic
weapon. In all studied populations, injuries were more
frequent in adults than in subadults and also in males
than in females, denoting a sexual division in the risk of
suffering accidents or intentional violence. According to
the archeological record, the development of societies in
the SE Iberian Peninsula during these periods must
have entailed an increase in conict. However, a high
frequency of cranial traumatic injuries was observed in
the Neolithic series, theoretically a less conictive time,
and the lowest frequency was in crania from the 3rd mil-
lennium B.C. (Copper Age), which is characterized by
the archeologists as a period of increasing violence. The
relatively large size and the high rate of injuries in Neo-
lithic crania and the practice of cannibalism are strongly
suggestive of episodes of interpersonal or intergroup con-
ict. The number and distribution of injuries in Bronze
Age is consistent with the increase in violence at that
time described by most archeologists. Am J Phys Anthro-
pol 140:465475, 2009. V VC 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Several recent studies have addressed the frequency,
type, and position of cranial traumatic injuries in rela-
tion to episodes of violence and war during the far past
(Walker, 1989; Martin and Frayer, 1997). In modern
populations, cranial trauma can be caused by sporting
activity, all sorts of accidents, interpersonal violence,
and armed conict (Walker, 1997). All these causes,
including hunting, are applicable to past times.
Increases in interpersonal violence and armed conict
have been related to demographic growth in combina-
tion with sedentism and climatic crises (Keeley, 1996;
Ferguson, 1997; Guilaine and Zammit, 2002; Dolukha-
nov, 2004; Haas, 2004, among many others). All of these
factors are directly associated with food resources and
other goods. Pressures from higher population densities
give rise to greater competition and social changes in
increasingly complex and unequal communities. Grad-
ual settlement building and population growth increase
territoriality, dependence on the occupied region, cul-
tural distinctions among population groups, xenophobia
and ethnocentrism, activity specialization, accumulation
of goods, and social hierarchies (Haas, 2004). All of
these elements are closely related to conict. Any crisis
or climatic degradation increases the effects of these
conditions (Keeley, 1996; Carman and Harding, 2004;
Haas, 2004). Gatherer-hunters lived in small nomadic
groups with no cultural frontiers or territorial behavior,
but the appearance of stable Neolithic open-air settle-
ments led to the development of fortications and
increasingly specialized weapons (Haas, 2004; Vencl,
2004).
The evidence of violence in prehistory largely derives
from the presence of weapons or tools that could poten-
tially serve as weapons, construction of ramparts and de-
fensive architecture, iconographic representations, and
traumatic lesions observed in skeletons (Ferguson, 1997;
Robb, 1997; Carman and Harding, 2004; Lull et al.,
2006). The presence of weapons, ramparts, and their rep-
resentations indicate the existence of conicts (Carman
and Harding, 2004). The presence of lesions on bones
offers direct evidence of violence (Robb, 1997; Walker,
1997; Schulting, 2006; Owens, 2007) but does not indi-
cate its prevalence. As pointed out by Guilaine and Zam-
mit (2002), it is difcult to analyze violence in prehistory
because there are only a small number of remains, and
data on specic episodes do not necessarily reect a
broader historical reality.
Traumatic cranial injuries offer objective and easily
quantiable evidence but can be caused by accidents of
all kinds, as well as interpersonal violence. Accidents
cannot usually be clearly differentiated from intentional
injuries, and it is difcult to distinguish between injuries
inicted in military action and those resulting from indi-
vidual brawls or ritualized competitive encounters.
Moreover, the intentional injuries that can be identied
on bone are only a fraction of all injuries suffered in
military combat or occasional ghting (Vencl, 2004). It is
especially difcult to differentiate between accidents and
intentional injuries during periods when any object could
sometimes be used as a weapon. Lesions caused by speci-
*Correspondence to: S.A. Jimenez Brobeil, Facultad de Medicina,
Laboratorio de Antropolog a, Avenida de Madrid 11, Granada 18012,
Spain. E-mail: jbrobeil@ugr.es
Received 24 September 2008; accepted 17 March 2009
DOI 10.1002/ajpa.21089
Published online 7 May 2009 in Wiley InterScience
(www.interscience.wiley.com).
V VC
2009 WILEY-LISS, INC.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 140:465475 (2009)
alized weapons (e.g., swords or rearms in modern
times) are a clear sign of violence, but a depressed frac-
ture might have been caused either by an intentional
blow with a blunt object or by an accident, which would
only reect the risks of performing the activity leading
to the injury. At any rate, the study of cranial injuries
not only yields possible data on the development of vio-
lence in the past but is also an excellent source of infor-
mation on manners, means of life and physical activities
when carried out in large populations with available
archeological or historical data.
Authors of archaeological studies on the development
of societies in the SE Iberian Peninsula from the Neo-
lithic to the Bronze Age postulated a considerable
increase in conict throughout the 3rd millennium BC
(Copper Age) (Gilman, 1987; Chapman, 1991; Monks,
1997, 1999; Guilaine and Zammit, 2002; Aranda and
Sa nchez, 2004). The construction of ramparts, e.g., Los
Millares (province of Almer a) (Almagro and Arribas,
1963; Arribas et al., 1981), population growth, increase
in the number of settlements and in the use of weapons
such as the bow and arrow have supported this proposi-
tion. However, no direct evidence of violence in human
remains has been published to date. With this back-
ground, the main objective of our study was to analyze
the presence and distribution of cranial traumatic inju-
ries, as possible evidence of violence in remains from
sites dating from the Neolithic to Bronze Age in the SE
Iberian Peninsula to determine whether the information
obtained is consistent with the available archeological
data. To compare the ndings in the prehistoric collec-
tions, a medieval collection (including cases of violent
death) and an early twentieth century collection from
the same region were also included in the study.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study was conducted on a collection of 677 skulls
and crania from different cultures and chronological
stages of the SE Iberian Peninsula that are kept in the
Anthropology Laboratory of the University of Granada
(Table 1, Fig. 1). The focus on crania was intended to
facilitate more direct comparisons between the different
periods avoiding problems of varying preservation states.
Neolithic
Remains were from archeological sites dating from
5500 to 3000 BC in interior mountainous areas of the SE
Iberian Peninsula. The economy of these populations
was largely based on livestock, and there is little knowl-
edge of their social organization. Remains derive from
caves, and no defensive structures were detected. Study
materials are in a varied state of preservation, from
complete skeletons to isolated fragments, largely due to
the cannibalism likely practiced at several of the sites.
Some human remains come from refuse areas rather
than burials (Jimenez-Brobeil et al., 1986; Botella et al.,
2000). The study sample includes 61 skulls, crania, and
cranial vaults including four with a healed trepanation;
the face was preserved in 55.6% of individuals (Jimenez-
Brobeil et al., 1996).
Copper Age
Materials come from collective burials, mainly mega-
lithic, in the relatively mountainous areas of the interior
and date from 2800 to 1800 BC. The economy of these
groups was based on livestock and dry (secano) crops,
and these peoples were the rst to use metallurgy. Their
settlements were usually formed of small huts with occa-
sional defensive systems. Burials were placed outside
the settlements and no information on social differences
can be gathered due to their collective nature, and their
use over long time periods results in the mixing of fu-
neral goods with human bones, with no individual asso-
ciations. Materials are poorly preserved in these circum-
stances, accounting for the very small number of crania
retaining the face (30.2%). This series comprises 128
skulls, crania, and cranial vaults. Unfortunately, no
bones have been preserved from the Los Millares site,
which has highly complex defensive structures (small
forts, ramparts, towers, barbicans, arrow-slits, etc.) and
has been considered the type site of the presence of vio-
lence (Aranda and Sa nchez, 2004).
Excavations of burials from this period were all made
some years ago, and no possible relationship between
skeletal remains and funeral goods was reported. Depos-
its were always considered as accumulative, and no buri-
als were considered mass graves. Arrowheads were
TABLE 1. Prehistoric sites in this study
Name Municipality Province Culture
Cueva de la Carigu ela
a
P n ar Granada Neolithic
Cueva de las Ventanas P n ar Granada Neolithic
Las Majolicas
a
Alfacar Granada Neolithic
Cueva CV3 Cogollos Granada Neolithic
Cueva del Agua Alhama Granada Neolithic
Cueva de los Molinos Alhama Granada Neolithic
Cueva de Malalmuerzo
a
Mocl n Granada Neolithic
Cueva Honda
a
Mocl n Granada Neolithic
Cueva de las Tontas Montefr o Granada Neolithic
Hundidero-Gato Benaoja n Ma laga Neolithic
Cueva de Dn a. Trinidad Ardales Ma laga Neolithic
Cueva de la Solapilla
a
Mollina Ma laga Neolithic
Cueva de Nerja Nerja Ma laga Neolithic
Cueva del Humo Ma laga Ma laga Neolithic
Cueva de los
Murcielagos
Zuheros Cordoba Neolithic
Cueva de los Ma rmoles
a
Priego Cordoba Neolithic
Cueva del Canjorro Jaen Jaen Neolithic
Dolmenes de Illora Illora Granada Copper Age
Cueva del Coquino Loja Granada Copper Age
Covacha de la Presa Loja Granada Copper Age
Cerro del Castellon Campotejar Granada Copper Age
Can ada Honda Iznalloz Granada Copper Age
Cerro del Greal Iznalloz Granada Copper Age
Dolmen del Chilleron P n ar Granada Copper Age
Dolmenes de Gorafe Gorafe Granada Copper Age
Dolmenes de Fonelas Fonelas Granada Copper Age
La Carada Huescar Granada Copper Age
La Velen a Cabra Cordoba Copper Age
El Barranquete N jar Almer a Copper Age
Dolmenes de los
Bermejales
Arenas del
Rey
Granada Bronze Age
Cueva de Frage Iznalloz Granada Bronze Age
Cueva de la P nta P n ar Granada Bronze Age
Cueva de la Paloma La Zubia Granada Bronze Age
Tajos de Cac n Cac n Granada Bronze Age
Cerro de la Encina Monachil Granada Argar culture
Puerto Lope Mocl n Granada Argar culture
Terrera del Reloj Dehesas Granada Argar culture
Cuesta del Negro Purullena Granada Argar culture
Castellon Alto Galera Granada Argar culture
Fuente Amarga Galera Granada Argar culture
Cerro de la Virgen Orce Granada Argar culture
a
Neolithic sites with cases of probable cannibalism.
466 S.A. JIME

NEZ-BROBEIL ET AL.
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
found in most of them and have traditionally been inter-
preted as funeral goods, but their position with respect
to the bones was not recorded. No studies were con-
ducted of use wear on arrowheads to determine whether
they had been used as weapons or were merely funeral
goods (Mercadal and Agust , 2006).
Argar culture
This was one of the most important Bronze Age phe-
nomena in the Western Mediterranean (17001200 BC).
Populations lived in small villages on steep hills domi-
nating fertile valleys and were located near mineral
resources. There was usually a walled acropolis at the
highest point, surrounded by dwellings on stepped terra-
ces. The economy was based on livestock raising and
herding, agriculture, and mining (e.g. a mixed economy).
The major increase in wealth accumulation during this
period meant that there was more reason to fear attack
and to take defensive measures. The tombs were single
or double and were situated below the dwellings. The
presence of grave goods denotes a stratied society, with
an elite characterized by gold and silver funeral goods,
an intermediate class, and an underclass with very poor
goods or none at all (Lull, 1983; Molina, 1983). The
goods differed according to the sex of the individuals,
demonstrating a clear differentiation of roles between
the sexes (Lull, 1983). Male burials contain weapons like
swords, halberds, and knives, whereas female tombs
have mainly metal awls and certain ceramic forms. The
sample contains 156 complete skulls.
Bronze Age Granada
This collection includes remains from various Bronze
Age sites in the west of the province of Granada that do
not belong to the Argar culture. Most of the crania come
from dolmens at the Bermejales site (rst half of 2nd
millennium BC), which is contemporaneous with and con-
tains some materials typical of the Argar culture. Funeral
customs of the Copper Age were maintained, with collec-
tive burials in megalithic tombs (Arribas and Ferrer,
1997). The economic model of pastoralism and agriculture
was also maintained. The sample includes crania and cra-
nial vaults of 65 individuals whose bones are mixed and
unconnected; 16.7% have the face preserved.
La Torrecilla (Arenas del Rey, Granada)
These bones come from the cemetery of a small rural
nucleus dated to 9001300 AD. They were Muslims and
lived in a at-land environment beside the River Cac n.
Their economy was based on cultivation. The tombs pro-
vide no data on the social status of these individuals
because in the Muslim religion there are no differences
among individuals in death. However, the site was
located far from large urban centers or major routes,
suggesting that the population was composed of peasants
with scant economic resources (Souich, 1979). This col-
lection was included in the study for comparative pur-
poses because it is the only one in the region including
clear cases of death from intentional action (Campillo
and Souich, 199091). Civil wars, invasions from North
Africa, and conicts were frequent in Al-Andalus in the
Middle Ages (Watt, 1974). The sample contains 85
skulls.
Twentieth century
The collection is formed by 182 crania (all with face)
from ossuaries at cemeteries in Almun ecar (Granada),
Montefr o (Granada), and Linares (Jaen). During the
rst half of the twentieth century, the economy of Almu-
n ecar was based on shing and agriculture, that of
Fig. 1. Map showing the position of sites and cemeteries from which the studied collections derive.
467 TRAUMA AND VIOLENCE IN THE IBERIAN PENINSULA
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
Montefr o on livestock and agriculture and that of
Linares on agriculture, mining, and industry. The mate-
rial was gathered selectively from ossuaries with preser-
vation criteria, which is why there are no subadults, and
there is a markedly lower number of female than male
specimens.
The medieval and modern collections are not included
as a control series, but rather as providing more mate-
rial for comparisons. We have no data on the modern se-
ries except for approximate dates.
Diagnosis of the sex and age at death of the above
individuals was established by using procedures pub-
lished by Byers (2005). The materials from the Argar
culture and La Torrecilla correspond to individualized
complete skeletons, allowing more accurate sex and age
attribution (pelvic and skull morphology; long bone
length, epiphyseal union, and dental eruption for suba-
dults; pubic symphyses, sternal rib ends, and cranial
suture closure for adults). When there are no postcranial
elements associated to the skulls, for sex and age, the
morphology, dental eruption, and cranial suture closure
were used. The following age categories were used:
Infant I (06 years), Infant II (712 years), Juvenile (13
20 years), Adult (2140 years), Mature (4160 years),
and Senile ([61 years). Age class distribution did not
signicantly differ between prehistoric and medieval
samples (v
2
5 0.42; P 5 0.98), hence age-dependent vari-
ables can be compared.
The materials were visually examined (inner surfaces
whenever possible) (Figs. 2 and 3) using radiology in
some cases to guide or conrm the diagnosis. Account
was only taken of injuries of clearly traumatic origin,
with signs such as: linear fractures, depressions in outer
table with or without radiating lines from impact point,
presence of fragments driven inwards, callus in inner ta-
ble, linear loss of substance, or perforation with sharp
and well-dened edges, etc. Cases showing only a single
depression in outer table pose a diagnostic challenge,
although most may correspond to healed blunt force
lesions (Campillo, 2001). In these cases, we excluded
those with irregular edges or surrounded by boney mar-
gins, osteolytic lesions, and those with vascular grooves,
radial spicules or granulous base, which can also be
observed in diseases such as Langerhans cell histiocyto-
sis, or dermoid cysts. The dimensions of lesions were
then measured with a digital caliper, also recording their
shape and location, the presence of other diseases, the
possible origin of the traumablunt force (see Fig. 4),
sharp force (see Fig. 5), or penetrating forceand
whether the subject survived the injury (signs of bone
activity and resorption, bone bridges, rounding of the
edges, etc.). Mandibles were not scored for comparisons
Fig. 3. Inner surface of lesion in Figure 2, showing a callus.
Copper Age. Dolmenes de Los V nculos.
Fig. 2. Blunt force trauma (depressed fracture) on outer
surface of left parietal bone. Copper Age. Dolmenes de Los
V nculos.
Fig. 4. Blunt force trauma on left frontal bone. Copper Age.
Cerro del Castellon.
468 S.A. JIME

NEZ-BROBEIL ET AL.
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
because they are only associated with crania in the
Argar and La Torrecilla series. Frequencies obtained
were compared by means of the v
2
test.
RESULTS
Age and sex
No subadults (020 years) with cranial trauma were
detected in the Neolithic or Copper Age populations or in
the medieval population from La Torrecilla (Table 2).
One child (6 years) from the Bronze Age and one juve-
nile from the Argar culture show supercial cranial inju-
ries. Of 108 prehistoric subadults studied, only 1.9%
showed trauma, a signicantly lower (v
2
5 6.55; P 5
0.01) percentage than the 10.3% of adult individuals
found to have cranial injuries (302/31). The modern col-
lection contains only three subadult crania, and one
shows a small lesion, but they did not constitute a repre-
sentative sample and were not taken into account in this
study. In the Neolithic and the Argar culture, the fre-
quency of injuries is higher among individuals older
than 41 years than among 21- to 40-year-olds, although
the difference does not reach signicance.
More trauma were found in the males than females
from Neolithic, Copper, Bronze periods, and modern
times (Table 2), but without statistical signicance. In
the Argar culture, a large and signicant (v
2
5 4.81; P 5
0.03) difference was found between males (20.4%) and
females (4.0%). When the prehistoric individuals were
considered together, the difference in trauma frequencies
between affected males (16.5%) and females (3.9%) was
again signicant (v
2
5 10.4; P \0.001). No females with
skull injury were found in the medieval population of La
Torrecilla, signicantly contrasting with the frequency
among the males (v
2
5 9.25; P \ 0.001). In the popula-
tion from the twentieth century, virtually no difference
was observed between males and females.
Types of injury
Forty-six injuries were detected in 33 of the 292 pre-
historic individuals with attributed sex: 35 lesions in the
164 male crania and 11 injuries in the 128 female cra-
nia. These 46 lesions are blunt trauma: 41 are depressed
injuries (see Fig. 6), two are longitudinal fractures, and
the remaining three are fractures of nasal, jugal, and
petrous temporal bones. No arrow injuries have been
found. All lesions in the prehistoric individuals show
signs of postinjury survival. There are 16 injuries among
the 33 medieval male skulls in La Torrecilla: nine are
sharp force trauma from a sword or saber without sur-
vival (four victims), and seven are depressions. The 182
modern individuals show a total of 39 blunt force lesions:
34 depressed injuries, four linear fractures (see Fig. 7),
and one nasal bone fracture, which were all survived.
Fig. 5. Sharp force lesions by sword or saber. Medieval. La
Torrecilla.
TABLE 2. Distribution of individuals with lesions
Males Females Indeterminate All
Neolithic
06 years 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 9/0/0.0 9/0/0.0
712 years 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 11/0/0.0 11/0/0.0
1320 years 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 5/0/0.0 5/0/0.0
2140 years 12/3/25.0 12/1/8.3 3/0/0.0 27/4/14.8
4160 years 6/3/50.0 1/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 7/3/42.8
[61 years 1/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 1/0/0.0 2/0/0.0
All 19/6/31.6 13/1/7.7 29/0/0.0 61/7/11.5
Copper Age
06 years 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 9/0/0.0 9/0/0.0
712 years 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 9/0/0.0 9/0/0.0
1320 years 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 4/0/0.0 4/0/0.0
2140 years 44/5/11.3 29/1/3.4 2/0/0.0 75/6/8.0
4160 years 14/0/0.0 10/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 24/0/0.0
[61 years 4/0/0.0 3/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 7/0/0.0
All 62/5/8.1 42/1/2.4 24/0/0.0 128/6/4.7
Bronze Age
06 years 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 2/1/50.0 2/1/50.0
712 years 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 3/0/0.0 3/0/0.0
1320 years 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0
2140 years 25/6/24.0 18/1/5.6 3/0/0.0 46/7/15.2
4160 years 8/0/0.0 5/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 13/0/0.0
[61 years 1/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 1/0/0.0
All 34/6/17.6 23/1/4.3 8/1/12.5 65/8/12.3
Argar
06 years 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 29/0/0.0 29/0/0.0
712 years 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 15/0/0.0 15/0/0.0
1320 yr 1/1/100.0 0/0/0.0 11/0/0.0 12/1/8.3
2140 years 32/4/12.5 32/2/6.2 2/0/0.0 66/6/9.1
4160 years 13/3/23.1 17/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 30/3/10.0
[61 years 3/2/66.6 1/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 4/2/50.0
All 49/10/20.4 50/2/4.0 57/0/0.0 156 /12/7.7
Total
prehistoric
06 years 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 49/1/2.0 49/1/2.0
712 years 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 38/0/0.0 38/0/0.0
1320 years 1/1/100.0 0/0/0.0 20/0/0.0 21/1/11.8
2140 years 113/18/15.9 91/5/5.5 10/0/0.0 214/23/10.7
4160 years 41/6/14.6 33/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 74/6/8.1
[61 years 9/2/22.2 4/0/0.0 1/0/0.0 14/2/14.3
All 164/27/16.5 28/5/3.9 118/1/0.8 410/33/8.0
La Torrecilla
012 years 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 17/0/0.0 17/0/0.0
1320 years 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 3/0/0.0 3/0/0.0
2140 years 20/6/30.0 25/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 45/6/13.3
4160 years 13/4/30.8 7/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 20/4/20.0
[61 years 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0 0/0/0.0
All 33/10/30.3 32/0/0.0 20/0/0.0 85/10/11.8
Twentieth
century
[20 years 136/22/16.2 46/6 /13.0 0/0/0.0 182/28/15.4
Number of individuals/ number of individuals with trauma/per-
centage.
469 TRAUMA AND VIOLENCE IN THE IBERIAN PENINSULA
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
Location
In Neolithic males, injuries are distributed equally
between frontal and parietal locations (Table 3, Fig. 8),
whereas in females they are all localized in the parietal,
although the number of injuries is too small to reveal
signicant differences. In the Copper Age remains, there
is a predominance of frontal positioning in both sexes,
although differences are again nonsignicant (Table 3,
Fig. 9). In the Bronze Age, cranial injuries appear more
frequently on the frontal bone in males and on the parie-
tal in females (Table 3, Fig. 10). Individuals from the
Argar culture show more injuries on the frontal bone,
with a signicant (v
2
5 3.7; P 5 0.05) predominance of
frontal (18.4%) versus parietal (4.1%) injuries in the
males (Table 3, Fig. 11). Taking all male prehistoric indi-
viduals together, there is a clear predominance of inju-
ries to the frontal bone (frontal: 164/22/13.4%; parietal:
164/10/6.1%) (v
2
5 4.2; P 5 0.04), whereas the prehis-
toric females show a similar distribution of injuries
between the frontal (128/5/3.9%) and parietal (128/6/
4.7%). The males show a higher frequency of frontal
injuries in comparison to the females (13.4% vs. 3.9%; v
2
5 6.6; P \ 0.001), whereas the frequency of parietal
injuries is similar between the sexes (6.1% vs. 4.7%; v
2
5 0.1; P 5 0.79). Males from La Torrecilla show a simi-
lar distribution of injuries between the frontal (12.1%)
and parietal (9.1%) bones, as found in modern males
(11.0% vs. 10.3%), whereas the modern females show a
dominance of the frontal bone (10.9% vs. 4.3%).
Injuries are all on the left side of the cranial vault in
the Neolithic collection (v
2
5 12.2; P \ 0.001) and are
similarly distributed on both sides in the Copper and
Bronze Age individuals. In the Argar collection, most
injuries are located on the right side with statistical sig-
nicance (v
2
5 4.8; P 5 0.03). In the La Torrecilla popu-
lation, cranial depressed fractures are preferentially on
the right side, whereas the majority of sharp force
lesions are on the left side. In the modern population,
injuries are distributed equally on both sides of the
skull.
Size
Table 4 shows the wide variability in the depressed
lesions size. The size of the other lesions was not taken
because the other traumatic injuries cannot be measured
or they are very scarce. The mean size is similar among
the Copper, Bronze, and Argar Ages populations but
markedly higher in the Neolithic collection, because of
large traumatic injuries in two of the crania from this
period. Medieval and modern lesion sizes are slightly
lower, with a smaller variability. Small but signicant
differences in maximum and minimum lesion size were
found between prehistoric and medieval or modern cra-
nial vaults (maximum diameter t 5 2.06, P 5 0.05; mini-
mum diameter t 5 2.14, P 5 0.04). Data demonstrate a
reduction in lesion size from the Neolithic to the present
time. No difference in mean lesion size was observed
between males and females.
Behavior over time
In these series (see Fig. 12), the frequency of injuries is
lower in the Copper Age (4.7%) versus Neolithic collec-
tions (11.5%) and then again higher in the Bronze Age
(12.3%). The frequency is lower in the Argar Culture
(7.7%) but increases in the medieval individuals of La
Torrecilla (11.8%) and reaches the highest gure in the
modern collections (15.4%). There is a clear division
between the sexes. Thus, prehistoric females have a very
low prevalence (3.9%), similar among the prehistoric time
periods; no female showed a cranial injury in La Torre-
cilla, while 13.0% of twentieth-century females possess a
cranial injury, a signicant difference when compared
Fig. 6. Depressed fracture on the left frontal bone. Argar
culture. Castellon Alto.
Fig. 7. Blunt force trauma (linear fracture) on left temporal
and parietal bones. Twentieth century. Linares.
TABLE 3. Distribution of blunt trauma by bone
Males Females
Frontal Parietal Frontal Parietal
Neolithic 19/4/21.0 19/3/15.8 13/0/0.0 13/2/15.4
Copper Age 62/4/6.4 62/2/3.2 42/2/4.8 42/1/2.4
Bronze Age 34/5/14.7 34/3/8.8 23/0/0.0 23/1/4.3
Argar culture 49/9/18.4 49/2/4.1 50/3/6.0 50/2/4.0
La Torrecilla 33/4/12.1 33/3/9.1 32/0/0.0 32/0/0.0
Twentieth
century
136/15/11.0 136/14/10.3 46/5/10.9 46/2/4.3
Number of individuals/number of injuries/percentage.
470 S.A. JIME

NEZ-BROBEIL ET AL.
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
with the prehistoric group (v
2
5 4.8; P 5 0.03). The high-
est percentage of cranial traumatic injuries is in the Neo-
lithic males (31.6%), with a signicantly lower (v
2
5 5.0;
P 5 0.02) percentage in the Copper Age (8.1%), followed
by a higher frequency in both Bronze Age cultures (17.6%
and 18.7%), with a signicant difference between Copper
Age and Argar (v
2
5 3.6; P 5 0.05). The frequency rises
further in the medieval males of La Torrecilla (30.3%) (v
2
5 3.4; P 5 0.06) but is again lower in the modern popula-
tion sample (16.2%). Figure 12 show the high peaks for
Neolithic and medieval males.
DISCUSSION
Age and sex
The low frequency of cranial trauma in subadults is
consistent with most reports (Walker 1989; Lambert,
1997; Roberts, 2000; Schulting 2006; Owens, 2007) and
with results in current clinical practice (Beaty and
Kasser, 2003). In general, children do not appear to have
taken part in wars or high-risk activities in any histori-
cal and cultural contexts, although they can be victims
of massacres and genocides. Therefore, the low percent-
age of injured subadults was expected. It should also be
taken into account that the detection of healed injuries
in children in general can be very difcult due to remod-
eling, except when they have died relatively soon after
their occurrence. In Neolithic and in the Argar Culture
there is a higher frequency of lesions in individuals of
advanced age, than in younger individuals, which is an
expected nding, because a longer life span increases the
possibility of suffering injuries. These differences did not
reach signicance, probably because of the small sample
of mature and senile individuals, due to the low life ex-
pectancy observed in all studied series.
Nearly all studies have reported a higher frequency of
traumatic injuries in males versus females (Jurmain,
2003). The main cause appears to be a sexual division of
labor, in which dangerous or strenuous activities are re-
served for males, as well as a cultural behavior that
associates virility with aggressiveness (Ember and
Ember, 1997; Robb, 1997). The most marked differences
are in La Torrecilla, which may be explained by the
clearly differentiated social status of males and females
in the Islamic culture, women had to work at home
(Arie, 1973; Guichard, 1976, among others). Differences
between Argar males and females are also considerable,
which may also be attributed to a well-dened sex-linked
distribution of activities. Thus, Argar funeral goods
(weapons for males and domestic objects for females)
point out a clear role division, which has been corrobo-
rated by the highly different patterns of musculoskeletal
stress markers and osteoarthritis (Al Oumaoui et al.,
2004; Jimenez-Brobeil et al., 2004). The smallest differ-
ence between males and females is in the contemporane-
ous population, resulting from a larger number of trau-
matic injuries in twentieth-century females. These val-
ues are difcult to explain, they may indicate social and
technological changes or some degree of gender violence.
Location
In the prehistoric males, the frontal location of lesions
clearly predominates. This nding has been reported in
other investigations (Walker, 1989, 1997) that relate
frontal injuries to violence. Walker (1989) attributes the
predominance of injuries on the left side of the frontal
bone in males from a Californian population to a pattern
of intentional aggression. Owens (2007) observed a simi-
lar distribution in pre-Hispanic populations of the Ca-
nary Islands. In La Torrecilla, sharp force trauma pre-
dominantly appear on the left side of the skull, which is
the most frequent injury site in face-to-face combat with
a right-handed aggressor (Boylston, 2000; Owens, 2007).
There is also a predominance of left-side trauma in the
present Neolithic crania, whereas a predominance of
right-side injuries was seen in males of the Argar cul-
Fig. 8. Distribution of traumatic lesions in Neolithic crania.
The asterisks indicate the center of the injury.
Fig. 9. Distribution of traumatic lesions in the Copper Age
crania.
Fig. 10. Distribution of traumatic lesions in the Bronze Age
crania.
471 TRAUMA AND VIOLENCE IN THE IBERIAN PENINSULA
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
ture. In a very general manner, it can be stated that the
greater number of traumatic injuries in the frontal bone
of males would indicate a sexual division of activities.
With the results obtained (see Table 3), it would be plau-
sible to suppose that some of the injuries on the frontal
could be related to the practice of violence. However, the
low number of injuries in the sample, especially in the
females, prevents the performance of statistical analyses
on which to base conclusions.
The poor preservation of facial bones, especially in
Copper (30.2%) and BronzeAge (16.7%) remains, is a se-
rious study limitation because the face is the most com-
mon site of injury from an intentional blow (Sheperd
et al., 1990; Boylston, 2000; Roberts, 2000).
Size, number, and type of lesions
Despite the signicantly larger size of injuries in the
prehistoric versus medieval and modern skulls, lesion
size is highly variable and no trend can be attributed to
a particular cause, e.g., the use of a specic object as a
weapon (Vencl, 2004).
Depressed fractures are the most frequent injury
reported in the general literature on this topic. We found
similar frequencies between the prehistoric and modern
individuals studied. However, the frequency of linear
fractures is higher in the modern collection (10.2%) than
in the prehistoric series (4.3%), likely reecting a greater
frequency of accidents (Pollak and Saukko, 2000). Except
for the evidently intentional sharp force lesions observed
in La Torrecilla, all other injuries might have been ei-
ther intentional or accidental. Facial injuries were likely
caused by violence, but this assumption cannot be con-
rmed. Likewise, fractures with cranial vault depression
reect a major impact but not its cause. The absence of
arrowhead lesions is not unexpected, since they are
more frequently found in the postcranial skeleton (Etxe-
berr a and Herrasti, 2007).
Development over time
Not much is known about the Neolithic period in SE
Spain, mainly because of the lack of modern archaeologi-
cal excavations. It was conventionally believed that live-
stock would constitute the main economic base in High
Andalusia before the Late Neolithic (area and period of
the studied remains), alongside extensive secano farm-
ing, with no problems of aridity, that settlements would
be dispersed, and that the egalitarian nature of society
and sustainable population density would mean an ab-
sence of resource-related conicts (Roma n D az, 1996). A
similar idyllic picture was drawn of the European Neo-
lithic, assumed to be a period of peace. This is what was
believed until recently, but new discoveries have
revealed that the rst farming societies of the continent
were in fact quite rough and violent (Guilaine and Zam-
mit, 2002; Schulting, 2006). Reorganization of resource
exploitation strategies would have caused a population
increase (Vencl, 2004), and the rst settlements would
have given rise to the concepts of territory and frontiers
(Gulaine and Zammit, 2002; Haas, 2004). These condi-
tions would favor conict and physical violence.
Cannibalism was practiced during the Neolithic in
Andalusia (Table 1) (Jimenez-Brobeil et al., 1986; Botella
et al., 2000) as in other parts of Europe (Villa et al.,
1986; Boulestin et al., 1996). In principle, cannibalism is
not necessarily related to interpersonal violence. In other
words, murder is not a prerequisite, which would be
more typical of exocannibalism (eating members of
another group), although it cannot be ruled out. How-
ever, the remains found in Andalusia with different
intentional marks (skinning, disarticulation, esh re-
moval, fresh fractures, bone marrow extraction, cooking,
etc.) usually appear mixed with animal remains and in
contexts that do not suggest ritual or respectful treat-
ment (Botella et al., 2000). None of the remains offer
clear evidence of violence.
Neolithic males have the largest injuries and a pre-
dominance of the frontal and left side, more typical of
face to face confrontations. Our Neolithic ndings sug-
gest conict. The only Neolithic female with cranial
trauma has two injuries to the left parietal bone. Gui-
laine and Zammit (2002) suggest that trepanations may
Fig. 11. Distribution of traumatic lesions in the Argar cul-
ture skulls.
TABLE 4. Size of depressed fractures
Mean 6 s.d.
Max. diameter Min. diameter Depth
Neolithic 27.4 6 21.9 15.8 6 9.9 1.7 6 0.7
Copper Age 16.6 6 7.8 11.5 6 6.6 1.5 6 1.9
Bronze Age 17.2 6 12.8 13.3 6 9.5 1.1 6 0.7
Argar culture 17.6 6 6.8 12.4 6 6.9 1.0 6 0.4
La Torrecilla 14.7 6 4.7 9.8 6 5.1 1.1 6 0.4
Twentieth
century
13.9 6 6.6 9.8 6 3.8 0.7 6 0.4
Fig. 12. Bar chart showing distribution of the percentages
of individuals with cranial injuries by sex and chronological
period.
472 S.A. JIME

NEZ-BROBEIL ET AL.
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
be violence-related injuries. Of the four Neolithic tre-
panned skulls, only one (see Fig. 13) has a large frac-
ture. This nding may indicate a trepanation carried out
for healing purposes, assuming that prehistoric people
can be attributed with this ability, which remains a
highly controversial issue (Campillo, 2007).
Archeological records indicate an increase of violence
during the Copper Age in the SE Iberian Peninsula,
with a marked development of sedentism, population
growth, and social hierarchization and creation of ram-
parts and forts (Chapman, 1991; Monks, 1997, 1999;
Guilaine and Zammit, 2002; Aranda and Sa nchez, 2004).
Still, our Copper Age population shows the fewest cra-
nial injuries (4.7%). Males (8.1%) have half the cranial
injury rate shown by the prehistoric and twentieth-cen-
tury males (16.5% and 16.2%, respectively) and a signi-
cantly lower proportion than in the Neolithic remains
(31.6%). This apparent contradiction was also noted by
Robb (1997) during the same period in Italy. It is possi-
ble that conict during this period would have been
dealt with by representations and dissuasive displays of
power and that there were not many violent encounters
(Ferguson, 1997; Guilaine and Zammit, 2002). It should
also be borne in mind that the crania studied here come
from megalithic groups of the interior, with livestock
economies, a degree of mobility, and more or less stable
settlements (Rincon, 1998) and cannot be compared to
the site of Los Millares. Results obtained were similar
between individuals of the Argar culture (7.7%) and
their Bronze Age contemporaries (12.3%) in Western
Granada province, showing a signicant increase in cra-
nial injuries in comparison to the Copper Age (4.7%),
with a predominance of injuries in males and in the
frontal bone. The increase in violence in the Bronze Age
is shared by cultures with more complex social organiza-
tion and leadership is concentrated in elites that imple-
ment military policies in defense of their interests (Fer-
guson, 1997). The Argar has been considered a militarist
culture with ramparts and defensive structures around
settlements and a marked social hierarchization, with
elites controlling the production and circulation of metal
objects. The value of metal objects in male funeral goods
would denote social prestige. The sword and the warrior
gure appear in the Bronze Age for the rst time (Gui-
laine and Zammit, 2002). Swords and halberds are pres-
ent in the male Argar tombs, but there was no evidence
of injuries produced by this type of weapon, either cra-
nial or post-cranial (Jimenez-Brobeil et al., 2004).
The increase in traumatic injuries in the Bronze Age
is also indicated by Robb (1997) in his study in Italy. He
suggests that violence increases with the arrival of social
stratication, mainly among males, with the incorpora-
tion of aggressiveness into gender and political symbol-
ism. The types of funeral goods found clearly differenti-
ate the role of males and females in the Argar, as also
reported by other authors (Ember and Ember, 1997;
Robb, 1997).
Findings in these crania are consistent with archeolog-
ical records for this period, although none of the injuries
offer clear evidence of intentionality. It is undeniable
that the males participated in more risky activities,
which may have included violence. Guilaine and Zammit
(2002) believe that intercommunity conicts in the
Bronze Age must have been raids to capture individuals
and steal livestock and other goods rather than organ-
ized battles. If this was the case, not many injuries
would be caused by face to face combat with metal weap-
ons, because surprise raids would leave little time for
mounting an organized defense. At any rate, the greater
number of injuries observed, although not direct evi-
dence of intentionality, is consistent with the theoretical
increase of violence during this period.
La Torrecilla is the only population offering undeni-
able evidence of intentional violence (four victims), with
cuts on skulls caused by long sharp blades (swords or
sabers). The males have the second highest number of
cranial traumatic injuries of all populations studied,
whereas the females show no injuries. In general, the
results obtained are consistent with the social and cul-
tural patterns of Islamic culture, with clearly dened
roles for males and females, with women assigned to
domestic work (Arie, 1973; Guichard, 1976).
In the twentieth century collection, the frequency of
cranial injuries in the males (16.2%) is similar to that
observed in the prehistoric males (16.5%), but the lesions
are smaller. They are distributed equally between frontal
and parietal and do not follow a pattern. In general,
they could be explained by simple accidents; local dis-
putes and brawling are impossible to quantify in Almu-
n ecar, Montefr o, and Linares because of the absence of
data sources for these villages. In contrast, the twentieth
century females show the highest frequency (13.0%) of
traumatic injuries of all female groups studied, and they
are mostly on the frontal bone. This gure could be
explained by the results of technological development,
for example motor trafc accidents, but this would also
have been reected by an increase in the males. It may
also be related to social changes, including the participa-
tion of women in activities that had been the preserve of
men. Because most frontal injuries appear to suggest
aggressive intent rather than accident, we cannot rule
out the presence of domestic violence (Wilkinson, 1997),
the main cause of injuries to women in modern society
(Kilpatrick, 2004; Novak, 2006).
CONCLUSIONS
Although interpersonal or intergroup violence has
always existed in different degrees, it is very difcult to
determine its presence in the absence of incontrovertible
evidence in the skeleton. Traumatic injuries constitute
direct and objective evidence but are only one more
Fig. 13. Cranial vault with blunt force trauma in left parie-
tal bone and healed trepanation over sagittal suture. The
arrows mark the extension of the blunt force trauma. Neolithic.
Cueva de los Molinos.
473 TRAUMA AND VIOLENCE IN THE IBERIAN PENINSULA
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
instrument that, in combination with archeological nd-
ings, may shed light on some past conicts but cannot
establish their prevalence.
According to archeological interpretations, the develop-
ment of societies in the SE Iberian Peninsula from the
Neolithic to Bronze Age entailed an increase in conict,
mostly during the 3rd millennium B.C. This study of cra-
nial remains is consistent with this hypothesis, with the
exception of our Copper Age ndings, but does not con-
tribute clear supporting evidence. Thus, mass graves or
simultaneous burials of several individuals have not been
identied at any of the sites from which these materials
derive. None of the prehistoric crania studied show
lesions that can be denitively attributed to intentional
violence, and all injuries appear to have been survived.
Most of the injuries found were in adult males, and
females appear to have been excluded to some extent
from risky behaviors. In this respect, gender segregation
is historically documented in medieval La Torrecilla, and
none of the females from this site had received cranial
injuries. Moreover, the scarcity of cranial injuries in the
prehistoric females contrasts with the high number in
contemporaneous females, which may include victims of
domestic violence, considered to be more typical of mod-
ern societies (Novak, 2006).
Recent challenges to the idea that the Neolithic was a
peaceful era (Guilaine and Zammit, 2002; Schulting,
2006) are supported by the relatively large size and high
rate of injuries in Neolithic crania, especially in the
males. The practice of cannibalism and the lack of appa-
rent respect afforded to human remains do not necessar-
ily indicate the presence of violence at that time,
although they suggest a social environment in which vio-
lence might more readily arise. The high frequency of
lesions in the Neolithic collection is consistent with these
considerations.
An unexpected nding was that the lowest frequency
of traumatic injuries frequency was in skulls from the
3rd millennium B.C. (Copper Age), suggesting that the
groups studied here might not have experienced the con-
icts over territory indicated by the defensive ramparts
in Los Millares. The high rate of traumatic injuries in
the Argar culture crania is consistent with a society
characterized by strong social hierarchies, gender segre-
gation, metal weapons, and defensive structures.
Studies like this one offer the only possibility of
unearthing direct evidence of violence in prehistoric soci-
eties, but they have a limited capacity to ascribe skull
lesions to a specic cause, particularly if the lesions are
healed. Further investigations are warranted to conrm,
qualify, or challenge our ndings.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the anonymous
reviewers for their insights and recommendations.
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