Analysis of butchered bones suggests violent ‘othering’ of enemies in Bronze Age Britain

A study led by the University of Oxford has uncovered the largest-scale example of interpersonal violence from British prehistory. At least 37 individuals from Early Bronze Age England were found to have been killed, butchered, and probably consumed before being thrown down a 15m-deep shaft – a treatment likely carried out to dehumanise or ‘other’ the victims. The findings have been published today in the journal Antiquity.