Results of analysis of remains soaked for more than 5,000 years in the swamp revealed that the man was beaten at least eight times in the skull before he died .
The remains of a Neolithic man nicknamed “Vittrup Man” were found more than a decade ago in a peat bog in Denmark, revealing that the dead were immigrants who were brutally murdered. . To solve a case that has been unsolved for more than 5,000 years, researchers study everything from dental tartar to DNA. They concluded he may have been a traveling flint dealer who died at the hands of hostile local residents, Live Science reported.
Fractured skull of the Vittrup man. (Photo: Stephen Freiheit).
In 1915, peat miners discovered many human and cow bones at the bottom of a trench near the village of Vittrup in northern Denmark. After finding the ceramic jar and a wooden stick, the group of workers contacted the local history museum to inform them about the artifacts. While two objects dating from 3800 to 3500 BC were quickly transferred to the National Museum of Denmark and put on display, the skeleton remained largely unstudied for a decade.
However, two recent studies of the genomes of people who died during the Mesolithic to Neolithic periods in prehistoric Europe revealed that the Vittrup people lived between 3300 and 3100 BC and had a different genetic profile. different from people living at the same time in the locality. The results of a full analysis of the Vittrup people, published February 14 in the journal PLOS One, reveal a life history that includes migration, dietary changes and a tragic death far from their homeland. land of men. The right heel bone, left lower leg, skull broken into many pieces and jaw with 16 teeth all belong to Vittrup Man. The skeleton revealed that he died at the age of 30 – 40.
The Vittrup people born in the Norse period were mainly composed of pastoral communities, according to the research team led by Anders Fischer, an archaeologist in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. The research team’s analysis of food proteins retained in dental calculus and elemental differences in bones and teeth indicated that the deceased may have come from a hunting-fishing tribe from the northern coastal region of Scandinavia , near the Roundabout. North Pole. Tartar forms on people’s teeth but cannot be brushed away. It hardens into DNA- and protein-rich plaque that can store dietary information for thousands of years. Vittrup’s tooth tartar revealed that he ate fish such as cod and bream, as well as whale, dolphin and lamb meat.
By the time Vittrup was a teenager, his diet included more freshwater and terrestrial food sources, according to carbon isotope analysis of his teeth. Changes in the Vittrup people’s diet coincided with geographical changes. Comparison of strontium and oxygen isotopes in premolars with wisdom teeth showed that he had moved before the age of 12.
Although it is unclear why Vittrup migrated, Fischer and his associates suggest that he may have sought flint and agricultural products to trade for the goods he brought from his homeland. Another theory is that he was enslaved by his enemies. In any case, the Vittrup people met an unfortunate end. The broken skull resulted from at least eight blows and showed no signs of recovery, proving that it was a fatal wound. Oval cracks in the skull indicate impact from a blunt, hard object, possibly similar to a maple stick found in a swamp. Therefore, the research team concluded that the Vittrup people could be victims of fraud or murder.