Overview

• Researchers analyzed 82 individuals from Achenheim and Bergheim in northeastern France dated to roughly 4300–4150 BCE.
• Isotopic signatures indicate those with violent injuries were nonlocal, whereas individuals in conventional burials were local.
• Trauma assessments document severed upper limbs, unhealed skull fractures, and signs of overkill that the authors interpret as war trophies and post-conflict display.
• The team reports a distinction in which trophy limbs show local isotope values while tortured full skeletons likely came from farther away, suggesting different fates for different enemies.
• The findings, set against documented cultural turnover in the Upper Rhine Valley, were published in Science Advances with motivations proposed but not settled, including ritual, deterrence, and dehumanization of rivals.