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

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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.