Shown is the skull of an 8-year-old child, with evidence of a massive injuries shortly before or after death.
Christian Meyer
Earliest Masks Uncovered: Photos
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The first known masks are Halloween-like stone portraits of the dead, according to a forthcoming exhibition at The Israel Museum in Jerusalem. NEWS: Stone Age Phallus Found in Israel
Collection of Judy and Michael Steinhardt, New York/IMJ
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The exhibit -- called Face to Face: The Oldest Masks in the World -- reveals for the first time 12 Neolithic masks featuring wide toothy smiles and large eyes. NEWS: Deformed, Pointy Skull from Dark Ages Unearthed
Collection of Judy and Michael Steinhardt, New York/IMJ
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The eerie stone portraits were carved out of limestone some 9,000 years ago by Stone Age people who were among the first to abandon nomadic life. NEWS: Face Masks Provide False Hope Against Pollution
Gift of Laurence and Wilma Tisch New York, purchasers of the Dayan Collection/ IMJ
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Experts believe the artifacts might represent various ancestors of an early Stone Age religion. PHOTOS: Mummies' Faces, Hairdos, Revealed in 3D
Collection of Judy and Michael Steinhardt, New York/IMJ
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The enigmatic artifacts were probably used in rites of healing and magic and in ceremonies celebrating the deceased. PHOTOS: Inside King Tut's Tomb
Collection of Judy and Michael Steinhardt, New York/IMJ
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The masks weight about 2-4 pounds and would likely have been painted. BLOG: Masks Give You Superhuman Powers
Collection of Judy and Michael Steinhardt, New York/IMJ
View Caption + #7: One mask even resembles a human skull.
BLOG: Realistic Replica Face Masks Are Creepy
Collection of Judy and Michael Steinhardt, New York/IMJ
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Intriguingly, several masks feature a set of holes along the outer edge, as if they were hung or worn using cords. PHOTOS: New Pharaoh Found in Egypt
Collection of Judy and Michael Steinhardt, New York/IMJ
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A mass grave with at least 26 human skeletons discovered in Germany shows that conflict in Neolithic Europe some 7,000 years ago could be horrifically brutal, with victims tortured and mutilated, reports a new scientific study.
How were the Vikings such remarkable mariners? Scientists have found the answer buried deep in a 16th-century shipwreck.
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The discovery adds fresh evidence to the theory that mass violence played a crucial role at the beginning of the Neolithic era, and might have contributed to the decline of the so-called Linear Pottery culture, said the study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the US.
The significance of such ancient mass graves -– which remain rare -- has been hotly debated by experts.
The last one was found in 2006 in Germany during a road construction project.
Evidence to date suggests that "massacres of entire communities were not isolated occurrences but rather were frequent features of the last phases" of the Linear Pottery culture, the authors conclude.
Analysis of the 26 people in the grave indicate that the victims had not been buried with typical funeral rites.
Rather, the skulls of many of the skeletons were smashed in by violent blows, in addition to arrow injuries that may have killed or immobilized the victims.
Unique to the new site is the discovery of skeletons with significant trauma in their lower legs, indicating they were tortured or mutilated before after death, researchers said.
The study speculates that a clash over resources, possibly exacerbated by drought, could have sparked conflict between groups.