What is it about?
This article argues that the skeletal population of the Neolithic massacre of Talheim represents a pure catastrophic mortality pattern, i.e. a living population which was killed and interred in its entirety. Many thousands of virtual massacres have been modelled with different mortality patterns using the Population & Cemetery Simulator (PCS), and agent-based modelling tool for Archaeologists.
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Why is it important?
The Talheim massacre shows that interpersonal violence on a relatively large scale was possible during a very early phase of European Prehistory. The article evaluates the demographic evidence contained in the excavated skeletal population.
Perspectives
The modelling tool applied in the case of Talheim can be utilized to analyze many other archaeological populations excavated - cemetery populations and catastrophic sites. It would be wonderful to try out other smaples and share the experience of other researchers when modelling with the PCS.
Mr Andreas Duering
University of Oxford
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A massacred village community? Agent-based modelling sheds new light on the demography of the Neolithic mass grave of Talheim, Anthropologischer Anzeiger, January 2014, Schweizerbart,
DOI: 10.1127/anthranz/2014/0450.
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