World's Oldest Murder Mystery

[LongBlade]

430,000 years, if you're counting.

This 430,000-year-old case may be the world's oldest murder mystery. Scientists on Wednesday said a fossilized skull discovered deep inside a Spanish cave shows telltale signs of homicide: two fractures inflicted by the same weapon. The skull, belonging to a primitive member of the Neanderthal lineage, was found in an apparent funerary site down a shaft in the appropriately bleak-sounding Sima de los Huesos, Spanish for "Pit of the Bones," in the Atapuerca mountains. The skull shows that our species, Homo sapiens, cannot claim a monopoly on murder. "This individual was killed in an act of lethal interpersonal violence, providing a window into an often-invisible aspect of the social life of our human ancestors," said paleontologist Nohemi Sala of Madrid's Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento Humano.

source: http://www.nbcnews.com/science/weird-science/430-000-year-old-murder-mystery-broken-skull-hints-earliest-n365481

[Nefaro]

I wonder if the murderer pointed his stone axe sideways at the guy beforehand?

[MetalDog]

That's pretty funny, Nef.  I like the visual.

[besilarius]

Quick, Watson.  the game's afoot.

[JasonPratt]

The real mystery is why they're still being regarded as a separate species.  ::)