Scientists published a study in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B reporting that a 12,000-year-old skeleton from northern Vietnam, designated TBH1, may represent the earliest evidence of interpersonal violence in Southeast Asia, Live Science reported. The analysis centered on a fractured extra rib near the neck that showed severe infection and a nearby 18-millimeter notched quartz piece interpreted as a projectile barb.
The team examined the skeleton of an adult man, about 35 years old at death, and argued that the broken, infected rib and the small quartz tip near the neck pointed to interpersonal violence. They said the man survived the initial injury but likely died later from infection linked to the fracture, and that TBH1 was cared for by his community and then buried.
The study described a rare anatomical feature in TBH1: an extra rib, a condition seen in roughly 0.2–1% of people. The extra rib was broken, with markers of infection including a cavity in the bone where pus would have drained. “TBH1 lived for several months after the injury occurred, and without effective treatment of the fracture, this is likely to have led to bacterial and other forms of infection, leading to death from infection within weeks or months after his injury,” the researchers wrote.
The quartz piece lay close to the injured area and showed notching consistent with a micropoint used as a barb on a projectile such as an arrow. Its material and workmanship did not match other stone tools from the site or nearby locations. “The point is especially intriguing. It doesn't match any other stone tools from Thung Binh 1 or nearby sites, raising questions about who made it and where it came from,” said Benjamin Utting, an archaeologist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and a co-author of the study.
If confirmed, the finding pushed back evidence of violence between hunter-gatherer groups in East Asia by several millennia. Some researchers said more evidence was needed. “This is an exciting new report from a time and place in which we had very few well-preserved skeletons to study,” said Michael Rivera, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Hong Kong who was not involved in the study. “This quartz projectile could have been the culprit leading to an infected rib, but whether or not this was an act of violence or an accidental injury is difficult to assess, in my opinion,” Rivera added.
The remains were first uncovered in 2018 at the Thung Binh 1 cave in the Tràng An region of northern Vietnam. “Although TBH1 is a special case, subsequent archaeological evidence shows that this hill and its caves have long been a burial place,” said Christopher Stimson, a colleague on the research, according to Asriran. TBH1 was interred in a fetal position with the face resting on the hands, and while the skull was crushed, the team reconstructed the cranium and jaws.
At first glance, TBH1 did not appear to have died from a serious blow and showed only a slightly damaged ankle, but the broader pattern - an unusual extra rib near the neck that was broken and infected and a notched quartz micropoint positioned nearby - pointed to a projectile injury and subsequent infection. The researchers argued that survival after the initial trauma and the nature of the burial indicated community support even as the injury ultimately proved fatal.
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