Ofnet Revisited: chronology, violence, society in the Late Mesolithic

奥夫内特洞穴的两个头骨洞穴，Nördlingen(巴伐利亚)，是中欧中石器时代晚期的关键遗址之一。自从20世纪初发现这些头骨以来，人们就一直在争论不休。它们要么被解释为大屠杀受害者的遗骸，要么被解释为祭祀头颅的仪式的证据。这对我们对中欧中石器时代晚期社会的看法产生了重大影响。在第一种情况下，出现了关于侵略、领土和危机的叙述，而在第二种情况下，我们可以主张将葬礼作为老年人社会复杂性增加的轨迹的一部分。然而，尽管它在这场辩论中发挥了关键作用，但关于Ofnet的基本事实仍然存在争议。这些数据包括被掩埋的确切人数、致命颅骨创伤的发生率和事件的先后顺序，即两个巢穴是同时放置的还是在不同的场合放置的，以及每个巢穴是否包含经过较长时间组装的头骨。本项目建议通过有针对性地应用其他分析来解决这些问题。我们将重新评估Ofnet人口的年龄和性别结构；制作和发布任何现有创伤的明确文件；以及(基于现有数据)直接确定两个头骨巢中的所有人的年龄，以制定一个可靠的时间框架。通过应用贝叶斯统计，一个或几个事件的可能性和沉积持续时间可以比迄今可能的更精确地明确建模。在此之后，我们将在关于中石器时代社会性质的更广泛的辩论中对我们的结果进行语境化。

The two skull nests of Ofnet cave, Nördlingen (Bavaria), are among the key sites for the Late Mesolithic in Central Europe. The skulls have been controversially discussed since their discovery in the early 20th century. They have been interpreted as either the remains of massacre victims or as evidence for a rite of reverential head disposal. This has significant consequences for our perception of late Mesolithic society in central Europe. In the first case, a narrative of aggression, territoriality and crisis emerges, while in the second case we could argue for funerary elaboration as part of a trajectory to increasing social complexity among foragers.Yet in spite of its critical role in this debate, basic facts about Ofnet remain disputed. These include the precise number of individuals buried, the prevalence of fatal skull trauma and the sequence of events, i.e. whether the two nests were deposited simultaneously or on separate occasions, and whether each nest contains skulls assembled over a longer time period or not. The present project proposes to settle these issues by the targeted application of additional analyses. We will re-assess the age and sex structure of the Ofnet population; produce and publish definitive documentation of any traumatic injuries present; and (building on existing data) directly date all individuals in both skull nests to draw up a robust chronological framework. By applying Bayesian statistics, the likelihood of one or several events, and the duration of deposition, can be explicitly modelled with greater precision than has hitherto been possible. This will be followed by a contextualisation of our results in the wider debates about the nature of Mesolithic society at this time.