A roughly 100,000-year-old human fossil unearthed in Israel carries evidence of a sharp-force wound to the lower left jaw inflicted by a stone tool, in what researchers describe as one of the oldest known cases of interpersonal violence among early Homo sapiens outside Africa.
The specimen, catalogued as Qafzeh 25, was examined by an international team led by Ana Pantoja Pérez of Spain's National Research Centre on Human Evolution. Scans reveal a cut mark across the left side of the mandible consistent with a frontal strike by a right-handed assailant. Bone regrowth indicates the victim survived for a considerable period after the attack.
The remains were recovered from Qafzeh Cave, a site recognized as among the world's earliest evidence of deliberate burial. The study, conducted with Tel Aviv University, was published in Scientific Reports.