Darker angels of our nature: extreme violence in the Early Bronze Age at Charterhouse Warren, Somerset

Direct physical evidence for violent interpersonal conflict is seen only sporadically in the archaeological record for prehistoric Britain. Human remains from Charterhouse Warren, south-west England, therefore present a unique opportunity for the study of mass violence in the Early Bronze Age. At least 37 men, women and children were killed and butchered, their disarticulated remains thrown into a 15m-deep natural shaft in what is, most plausibly, interpreted as a single event. In this presentation we examine the physical remains and debate the societal tensions that could motivate a level and scale of violence that is unprecedented in British prehistory.

Speaker: Rick Schulting, Professor of Scientific and Prehistoric Archaeology at the School of Archaeology.

Tea, coffee, and biscuits provided from 5.00pm.