Ancient human skeleton reveals 12,000-year-old conflict in southeast Asia

Incredibly rare evidence of ancient violence has been discovered in a world-renowned beauty spot.

Amid the soaring peaks and meandering rivers of Tràng An, Vietnam, a 12,000-year-old skeleton was recently found buried in a cave. The body was in relatively good condition for its age, representing a 35-year-old man in seemingly good health.

Researchers were unsure about what could have killed him, until they came across a fragment of quartz with the body. It appears to have been part of a projectile fired or thrown millennia ago, which shattered a bone in the man’s neck and lodged in his body, condemning him to a long, lingering death.

The study, led by our scientist Dr Christopher Stimpson, has revealed the oldest evidence of human conflict on the southeast Asian mainland.

“After the injury, this man lived for weeks, or even months, with a wound that just wouldn’t heal,” Christopher says. “It seems likely that this became infected and eventually killed him.”

“While it’s fair to think that people were very tough then, you feel for him nonetheless. It must have been an incredibly painful way to die.”

Dr V. Manh Bui, Director of the Ninh Binh Department of Tourism, adds that the discovery provides a welcome insight into a time in the region’s history when human remains are extremely rare.

“This is a groundbreaking and significant discovery – not only in terms of scientific value, but also in its historical and cultural importance. It is a source of local pride and will be invaluable in fostering a deeper appreciation for the heritage of Tràng An in residents and visitors alike.”

The findings of the study were published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

How was the Tràng An skeleton found?

The skeleton was found in Thung Binh One, a cave in the Tràng An Landscape Complex World Heritage Site, in 2017. The team were interested in the site because it was used as a midden, or ancient dump, and the archaeological evidence it could contain about the ancient humans who created it.

Having found broken pottery, snail shells and animal bones, the researchers were already piecing together the lives of the area’s past residents. They weren’t expecting to meet one, however.

“My colleague uncovered the right shoulder of a human skeleton, and so we immediately had to go into DNA protocols to try not to contaminate it,” Christopher recalls. “It was very character-building wearing goggles, masks, gloves and more in such a humid cave!”

“After we’d got permission to go ahead with an excavation, we used the orientation of the shoulder to work out where the rest of the skeleton would be, if it was there at all.”

The team dug gradually until they reached the skull. It had been flattened by a rockfall at some point in the past 12,000 years, leaving behind what one of Christopher’s colleagues described as “a mud pie”.

After attempting to take the skull out piece by piece, the team instead took out the skull and its surrounding sediment in a large block by digging around and under it. The rest of the skeleton followed over the next year.

“I’d previously worked in a few other caves in the local area, but this is probably the most challenging excavation that I’ve ever conducted,” Christopher says. “It was a very small and cosy cave to work in, but finding a skeleton of this age in such good condition made it all worthwhile.”

What do we know about the man’s life?

Back in the lab, a team led by Dr Alex Wilshaw began the painstaking process of removing the bones from the sediment. They were eventually able to reconstruct not just the majority of the body, but most of the skull as well. This has revealed incredible details about the man’s life.

“Human remains from this time in southeast Asia’s history are relatively uncommon, so the skeletal and DNA evidence that we were able to recover gives us a rare insight into the people living there at the time,” Christopher says.

“For instance, we were able to recover a full set of relatively well-preserved teeth – it’s amazing what life without refined sugar can do for dental hygiene!”

The feet bones, meanwhile, show signs of being gnawed at by animals after death. It suggests that the body was kept above ground before burial in a place where animals could access the bones but not carry them away.

The most intriguing part of the skeleton, however, was the neck. As the sediment was removed, the team found that the man had a cervical rib – an extra neck bone that’s only found in around one in 100 people. It had been damaged, with soft tissue getting into the fractures and stopping the wound from healing properly.

Inside the same sediment block was the white quartz point, which was immediately suspected as the cause of the break. It’s small enough to form part of a projectile, such as an arrow or a dart, but not big enough that it would have been immediately fatal when hitting the neck.

Closer examination by Dr Benjamin Utting revealed that it had a small notch on the side, which is characteristic of the damage caused by a stone striking something at high speed. While they can’t be completely certain, the team think that being struck by the point is the most likely cause of the man’s injury.

The point is also intriguing because of how it’s made. Nothing like it has been found in the nearby area. In fact, the closest comparisons come from southeast Asia’s islands, which are thousands of kilometres away from Tràng An.

Who made the quartz point, and where it came from, are among the many questions about the site that remain. As more of Tràng An’s caves are excavated, researchers hope they’ll come closer to answering them.