Ofnet Revisited: chronology, violence, society in the Late Mesolithic
Final Report Abstract
The skull burials at Ofnet cave have long monopolised attention, as they have been seen variously as either evidence for large-scale violence in Mesolithic Europe, or as proof for social complexity manifested in ancestral skull cults. The present project aimed to re-assess these possibilities by resolving some long-standing controversies concerning basic information on the site, crucially the demographic composition of the group, the number of skulls affected by violent trauma and cut marks, and the thorough dating of the remains, necessary to distinguish between a one-off event and a long period of deposition. Our re-analysis of the human remains, based on current and reliable criteria, has confirmed the presence of a relatively high number of children and women. Overall, we have succeeded in reducing the number of uncertain lesions, showing that almost half of the individuals were affected by perimortem traumata. This includes individuals of all ages and both sexes, although especially males are affected by multiple lesions. In contrast, most of the cut marks could be discounted as of recent origin. The dating of the remains proved more problematic, largely because of the previously underestimated impact of conservation treatment with Zaponlack. Having dated all the skulls from both nests, it is clear that such contamination cannot always be recognised visually, a factor that has not been sufficiently taken into account in previous studies. If contaminated material is excluded, the statistical modelling of the available dates is consistent with a single event, showing no differences either within the large nest or between the two nests. This does not exclude that two episodes only a few years apart in time are responsible for the creation of two nests. We are currently awaiting the results of dates based on more thorough pre-treatment methods in order to provide a more reliable assessment on the impact of contaminants. In sum, we can state that Mesolithic societies were prone to periodic outbursts of extreme violence, and that death in conflict may perhaps have been the determining factor for the chosen mode of burial. However, there are no independent indications that societies in south-west Germany at this time were either experiencing periods of overpopulation or were moving towards a more ‘complex’ (i.e. hierarchical) social structure. Indeed, the presence of other skull burials in the region suggests diverse motivations for their creation and ties in with eschatological beliefs of considerable antiquity. The next step is to further contextualise the site in its local setting and to obtain more data on networks of relatedness and exchange networks at this time.
