A gruesome pit of Stone Age human skeletons has been uncovered after being hidden for more than 6,000 years.
Dozens of warriors came to their brutal end after being captured in northeastern France, where warfare was widespread across the region.
However, rather than kill their enemies, ‘victory’ celebrations were held where researchers say invaders were tortured and mutilated.
Dating back to between 4300 and 4150 B.C, a total of 82 human skeletons were unearthed in the pits, with some having their left arms severed or hands completely dismembered.
Writing in the Science Advances journal, experts said: ‘The severed upper limbs would represent war trophies removed at the battle site following the violent encounter and then taken back to the settlement for perhaps further transformation and display.’
Dr Teresa Fernandez-Crespo, who worked on the findings, told Live Science that the warriors had their lower limbs fractured to stop them from fleeing.
She said: ‘We believe they were brutalised in the context of rituals of triumph or celebrations of victory that followed one or several battles.’
Researchers also found they had suffered ‘blunt force traumas’ as well as signs of piercing holes through their bones, which could point to the invaders being put up on display as a warning for others.
Dozens of warriors came to their brutal end after being captured in northeastern France, where warfare was widespread across the region
However, rather than kill their enemies, ‘victory’ celebrations were held where researchers say invaders were tortured and mutilated
Dating back to between 4300 and 4150 B.C, a total of 82 human skeletons were unearthed in the pits, with some having their left arms severed or hands completely dismembered
Food evidence found on their teeth suggests the tortured warriors may have come from Paris.
However, chemical signatures from their remains indicate the group may have also moved around different regions.
While some remains showed no signs of being mutilated, which could be the skeletons of warriors who did not survive when attempting to defend the area.
Another theory put forward by scientists is that skeletons could be the result of ‘collective punishments or sacrifices of social outcasts’.
