The 4,000-year-old mystery of a shepherd’s arrow to the back
Grisly, 4,000-year-old forensic evidence found in a cave in the Pyrenees Mountains hints at a serious disagreement between members of the region’s first shepherds. According to archaeologists at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (CERCA) and Spain’s Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, a flint arrowhead embedded in a human rib bone at the prehistoric tomb indicates a case of foul play. But despite the severe injury, additional signs reveal the wound wasn’t necessarily fatal– at least not immediately. Archaeologists uncovered the rib and its accompanying arrowhead at the Roc de les Orenetes archaeological site. Located 79 miles north of Barcelona at an altitude of over 5,900 feet, Roc de les Orenetes was first discovered in the late 1960s. Researchers have spent the last six years combing through the remarkable trove of ancient skeletal remains in the mountains of Catalan. So far, the project has yielded more than 6,000 bone...