ExtinctZoo - The Most Brutal Human Deaths Ever Preserved In Fossils

Episode Date: March 29, 2025

Life hurts, but seems like in the past it hurt so so much worse... and these real skeletons prove it.

This episode is brought to you by Netflix. Most valuable promotions in Netflix are hosting a blockbuster triple headliner Saturday, May 16th. Rhonda Rousey returns to face fellow woman's MMA pioneer Gina Carano in the main event. Plus co-main's Nate Diaz versus Mike Perry. And the best heavyweight in the world, Frances Ngano versus Felipe Lenz. Watch Rhonda Rousey versus Gina Carrano, live only on Netflix. Saturday, May 16th at 9 p.m. Eastern Center time, 6 p.m. Pacific time. Ever heard of the show A Thousand Ways to Die?

Well, if you take a look at our 300,000 years of history, you'll soon come to realize that 1,000 isn't nowhere close to cutting it. Try more like a million, if even that's enough. And through the ages, people have had to endure some pretty painful demises, some of which were definitely worse than others. But thankfully, thanks to technology and general progress, horrific endings are becoming less common than they used to be, especially because of just how tough ancient Earth was compared to now.

and we can only guess what kind of bowl our ancestors had it go through. But once in a while, we don't have to, as occasionally researchers will get really lucky at the expense of a seriously unfortunate individual. And we get to see firsthand some of the catastrophic injuries that ancient people had to endure, and sometimes even survived. But the first case definitely wasn't a survived kind of situation,

and unfortunately his mode of death still within the realm of possibility, as it was a shark attack. But not just any old shark attack, but rather the first conclusive one recorded in history, an achievement that certainly nobody wants to have, but nonetheless goes to a 3,400-year-old hunter-gatherer from Japan, simply dubbed Sukomo 24. The discovery was made in 2021 off the coast of the Seto Inland Sea,

where researchers located a male human skeleton in really rough condition, being absolutely covered in lacerations that spread across his arms, chest, abdomen, and hands. Originally, researchers are quite horrified and confused, as they were so deep that they marked bone, and matched what was seen in wounds caused by metal weapons, not animals or non-metal tools like a stone knife. What's more is that they weren't just looking at a few cuts, and not even a dozen or two, but instead, over 500, 700, 790, to be precise. And what made everything all the more weird was that the man had belonged to the Joman culture, in which metalwork was absent, meaning it wasn't some deranged serial killer that had caused this with a metal weapon. Therefore, they took another look at the injuries,

and noticed this time around that they were V-shaped and identical to those seen in modern-day shark attacks. This, in conjunction to his location, which was on archipelago, led to the conclusion that a large tiger shark or Great White had killed him, and it really did a number on him during the attack, administering multiple injuries that were fatal within their own right, including the fracture or tearing of every rib, the evisceration of his chest cavity and abdomen, and to top it all off, multiple dismemberments, which included both his feet and left hand.

These missing extremities also helped to tell researchers that the poor bloke was alive in the initial attack, since he likely used his hands and feet to defend himself, during which they were then bit off. This got rid of the possibility of the whole thing being a scavenging event as opposed to an attack, but led to a new question of why the shark had attacked him in the first place, as it was his left leg that bore the most deep bites, heavily implying an unprovoked ambush attack, and the answer was hidden in his bizarre final resting place. Opposed to being found at sea, as one would expect,

or in a place that was once submerged, the victim was found in a traditional burial site, and his bodies did not show signs of being in the water for long, meaning that he likely wasn't alone at the time of the attack. And given that the Joman people were exceptional fissures, the current belief is that a group of people had gone out on a boat to catch fish. At some point during the fishing excursion, the unlucky man had left the boat and got into the water to perhaps spearfish or to simply bring up a catch, not knowing that

the spilled blood in the water had attracted a shark, which then swiftly attacked him, seeing he was in danger and under attack. The others that were with him then came to the rescue and pulled him up, but it was already too late, and the only thing they could do was bury him, as he likely died well before reaching the shore. Now if you're planning a trip to Japan, don't panic quite yet. Yes, there are still sharks there now, but the situation was much dicier back then, with a number of known shark teeth implying that their populations were significantly higher than they are now. And this is also reflected by the Joman culture, which features multiple art pieces that depict various sharks, namely hammerheads and tiger sharks. So it's likely

that attacks were much more common back then. Now clearly, this particular incident had a rather regrettable ending. But not all horrific injuries ended so poorly, as sometimes ancient humans not only survived traumatic wounds, but even thrived afterwards, as best showcased by the world's oldest known amputation, which dates back to 31,000 years ago. For a long time, researchers have been well aware that amputations occurred before modern medicine, but previously, the oldest known case was only 7,000 years old, involving a Neolithic farmer from Europe. So everyone is pretty excited when in 2020, a group of scientists stumbled upon a much older specimen in Borneo that bore signs of a successful amputation.

The individual in question was found in the Liangtibo Cave, and notably was missing its left leg and foot. At first, there was an idea that it was lost in some traumatic accident, which then possibly killed the individual. Yet researchers noticed that not only was the wound extremely clean, but it was also healed and seemed purposeful, and the rest of the leg was partially withered and child-sized, while the specimen overall was clearly a young adult, making an amputation as a child to likely scenario. Now, because this took place over 30,000 years ago, painkillers were probably absent,

and the amputation would have occurred with a sharpened stone tool. And yet somehow, the ancient surgeon not only managed to finesse their way around veins, arteries, nerves, and tissue, but kept the area completely free of infection, a feat still impressive by modern standards, if some studies report an infection rate up to 40% after major amputations. And the prehistoric individual went on to survive into adulthood, only dying in their 20s from something unrelated and currently unknown. But now, this all begs the question, why did they need an amputation in the first place? A possible idea is that it had something to do with the area that they lived, as the terrain surrounding the cave is extremely rugged, elevated, and littered with large rocks and cliffs.

Therefore, the person could have taken a particularly nasty fall or got hit by a rock that mangled their leg to the point that amputation was necessary. And while it's thought that they survived for nearly a decade after the incident, it would not have been easy, as they still needed to navigate a mountainous area with just one leg. And therefore, they must have relied quite a bit on others for care, demonstrating one of the earlier cases of human compassion. But alas, we also know that humans in the past, and present for that matter, can be quite cruel. And you'd know this all too well if you saw my recent video about the Neolithic bottleneck.

That was a period of unusually cruel violence, which could be downright horrifying to say the least. And one of the worst cases of it was seen in the girls of St. Paul Troy Chateau-France. This grisly discovery involved three women who were found buried together back in the 80s, but dated to about 5,500 years ago, and only recently did scientists unveil that a cruel sacrificial ritual had taken place. In total, three victims were found, and yet two of them were buried in very contorted positions and stuffed into very tight spaces, while being completely covered by heavy grindstones, likely meant to keep them down and from moving,

signifying that these two had been buried alive and against their will. Furthermore, the positions of their arms and legs suggested that while decayed now, a rope had at some point not only bound them but tied their legs to their necks, causing them to involuntarily strangle themselves. And coincidentally, mirroring a torturous killing tactic sometimes used by the Italian mafia, named Incaparatamento. However, while mafias do it today for revenge against traitors, These Neolithic murders were some sort of agricultural sacrifice, as there were buried in the structure

that mimicked a silo grain, and the third woman was buried on top of them, unbound, and above the stones, presumably for symbolic purposes. The location was also quite peculiar, as it was built in a way that during the solstice, the sun would shine directly onto the silo. So in other words, whoever was behind this was quite twisted, it unarguably well organized. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day, like superheroes and stars. sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%.

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but more strange and rare killing took place not so long before this. However, this incident occurred on the other side of the world and involved the only known prehistoric sapien to be found in the tar pit, the Librea Woman. In case you didn't know,

Los Angeles is home to the La Brea Tarpe. pits, which is actually an active paleontology site that has served as a predator trap for tens of thousands of years. As animals who got stuck in the sticky tar would in turn attract many unknowingly doomed carnivores, and that is believed to be up to 50,000 years old. And through the years, paleontologists have recovered thousands of iconic ice age specimens like dire wolves, ground sloths, saber toothed cats, American lions, mammoths, mastodons, and then primates. Or rather, a primate. To be specific, a lone woman. Believed to have been between 18 to 30 years old at death,

the Libreo woman is a well-preserved skeleton that consists of cranium, mandible, and post-cranial material. In life, she likely stood around 4 feet, 10 inches, or 1.5 meters tall, and lived some 10,000 years ago, or based on her dentistry, she sustained herself on a diet, heavy and stone ground meal that apparently led to tooth issues and could have caused quite a bit of pain in life. But putting all that to the side,

the biggest issue obviously had to do with her being buried in the tar pit. You see, this was quite odd, as paleo-indians were definitely well aware that such a pit was dangerous and best to be avoided, which led researchers to suspect that she had a rather nefarious helping hand and ending up there. And upon further examination, they did indeed find that her jaw had actually been broken, while her skull had been fractured and possessed a small hole in it, indicative of a powerful strike, and not one that came from an animal, but rather from a quote-unquote fellow human, which, if accurate, would make her Alley's oldest known murder victim, given the age of the skeleton. And though highly debated, it's been hypothesized that given the location that she had belonged

to the Chumash people, yet why she was attacked is not known, nor if the attack came from her own group over personal discourse, or if it originated from a hostile party that was looking for resources, and potentially viewed her as a threat. Additionally, even though her wounds were almost 100% guaranteed to be fatal, given the level of medicine at the time, it's not clear if she had died first and then was dumped in the tar pit, or if she was thrown in there while wounded, but actually died from sinking under and suffocating in the tar. Now obviously, neither are good ways to go. And honestly, I'm not sure if I'd rather get bonked or drown.

And unfortunately, though, we know that definitely happened with another specimen, who is now known as the first modern human that we know of to have drowned. and ironically he did so in one of the driest places on earth, the Atacama Desert. This harsh and unforgiving region is found in Chile and is perhaps the oldest desert on the planet, meaning that at any rate, this Neolithic man who dated to 5,500 years ago, still lived in the area when it was absolutely bone dry. Yet his body was found in a roundstone structure on top of seashells, which does kind of make sense because he lived on the coast,

meaning that water was accessible. Originally scientists weren't sure what happened to him, as he wasn't super old, being about 35 to 45 years old at the time of his death, and he didn't have any clear fatal injury or disease either. However, because he lived close to the sea and was buried with lots of shells, there was a thought that he drowned. But how does one figure out of a 5,000-year-old plus man drowned or didn't with just bones? And surprisingly, you take a look at those bones and look for diatoms,

which is basically any member of a large group comprising of several genera of algae. And alas, diatoms were indeed found in a skeletal. implying that he drowned. And let's just say that's a very unpleasant sign, because the only way that diatoms can end up in one's bones is that you inhale water such that when it reaches the lungs, your pulmonary alveoli rupture, where then salt water rushes into your bloodstream before making it into your bone marrow, and hence the presence of these algae. So, a very brutal ending for an already harsh life. As it turns out, the man was already in very poor condition, showing signs of having arthritis bad enough to damage his bones.

And his legs are roughed up as well, suggesting a life spent squatting, perhaps to harvest shells, while his arms and shoulders were further messed up, reflecting a life rich in swimming, rowing, which matches the assumption that he was part of a coastal community. And, you know, just for a cherry on top, he also appeared to be extremely iron deficient, an ailment that was chalked up to a severe tapeworm infection, which can be common and mishandled fish. And just to make everything a tad bit more tragic, it turns out that he did not die alone, but with three others, another male, an adult female, and even one infant. Radic carbon found that all four had died at the same time. But how, you might ask? Well, they lived in a very

seismic area, and so it's believed that an earthquake and then a subsequent tsunami is what did them in. But what's rather peculiar is that when they tested the rest of the skeletons for diatoms, they found none, heavily suggesting that unlike the man, they had not drowned. And so now while it's still possible that an earthquake had killed them from the non-drowning-related dangers, it is now less likely that a tsunami and earthquake is what did them in. And the current hypothesis is that the man just accidentally drowned, maybe while diving down to forage, while the others just happened to die around the same time and location from other causes. After all, the Atacama Desert was and is a very grueling place,

where it could be hot, cold, and very, very dry. Although it should be said that Earth back then was also just in general tough, disregarding location, and sometimes we humans made it more painful than it already was and had to be. I mean, just take a look at this guy, or this girl, or really any of the other 38 humans found in France with holes in their skulls.

What you're looking at is not a mass murder crime scene or even warfare, but rather a poor attempt at surgery, also known as Trapanning, which, as the skulls show, involved drilling a hole into one's head, and was perhaps Homo sapiens' first widespread surgery. Unfortunately, the site in France specifically dates to about 6,500 BC, making it one of the oldest, if not the first cases of Trapanning that we know of. But it was by no means isolated, and multiple sites have been found with evidence of this strenuous procedure, supplying us with an abundance of brutal fossils, with some studies even suggesting that up to 10% of all Neolithic people

underwent this treatment, if you can call it that. And in the French site, it was closer to 33%. And given the super high rates, you'd assume it was pretty safe. But no, it's about what you'd expect from drilling a hole in your head. And less than 40% of the skulls showed any signs of healing, meaning more than 60% died. With the main ways of death, likely being infection, blood loss, and of course, trauma to the brain,

if the surgeon went too deep. And even if they were in the metaphorical clear, healing was no joke, often taking several months for the area to close up. And even then, it was likely you'd still feel awful. Plus the fact you had to endure the surgery itself, which definitely took place with no painkillers or anesthesia. Now to do the surgery,

it's thought that sharpened stone knives, or in some cases even seashells, were used to carry out the procedure. And people at virtually every age were found having done this. And so looking at the widespread nature of this procedure, you might ask, what was the purpose of this? Well, basically anything, according to some. Potential reasons included, spiritual purposes, treatment for epilepsy, relieving head wounds, which were more common at the time, courtesy of ourselves, or it could have been done for something

as simple as a headache. So basically, if you wake up in ancient times and you have a throbbing migraine, best to keep that to yourself. And perhaps surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, this surgery remained popular for quite some time, and actually still carried out today, just with a bit more precision and only done in slight cases. Not to mention, we now have much better management for the procedure and pain. And speaking of pain, that's something we seem to have left behind too. Of course, it's still a thing, but I more mean that life used to be so much more harsh and agonizing due to lesser technology.

I mean, just asked the girl of Uctur more, affectionately known as Murah by some. She is an iron age specimen that is also a bog body. In other words, a human that was found and sometimes naturally mummified within a peat bog. And just in case you're wondering what that is, it is a wetland that has accumulated peat, surprise, and other decayed organic material. Now Murrah was originally located in the year 2000, and her founders actually thought that she had been a girl that went missing after visiting a club many decades before. But after doing some testing, they realized that she was in reality a thousand-plus-year-old. skeleton who had lived in Iron Age Germany, and despite only being around 17 to 19, had endured more pain than most in their lifetime. Just about every bit of her body had some sort of damage

to it. And even looking at it as a whole, researchers concluded that she must have led a life of intense physical labor, probably consisting of carrying heavy loads like water jugs as she routinely navigated through the marshlands. Then her head had not one, but two severe fractures that had healed over, demonstrating brain injuries that might have come from a by hostile people, or even people within our own community, with her shape reflecting blunt impacts. And we do know that head trauma and violence were a bit more common during the Iron Age,

but at any rate, she definitely survived that specific ordeal. Yet she likely suffered from frequent headaches and potentially other neurological symptoms. And it really seems like she couldn't catch a break, because she also appeared to have a benign tumor at the base of her skull that likely just compounded on her already existing headaches, while also causing a curvature in her spine. her in her spine, leading to back pain and chronically inflamed legs, which was severe enough

to alter her bones. And while her own body seemed to be against her, so did the environment, as there were further signs that during harsh winters, she endured frequent periods of sickness and in her childhood had chronic malnutrition, reflected by the unusual morphology of her bones. So in other words, each day would have been a challenge for her, even if she didn't have to do anything, let alone survive during the Iron Age. And she clearly did not last long, because even 19 was considered below the life expectancy, which at that point hovered at around 26 years old. Now, we don't know what killed her, but it's believed that thankfully murder was off the table, considering that there are no clear signs. And right now, it's tentatively believed that she died in a

freak accident. However, one mystery that remains is that she was found alone and naked, with not even any objects or jewelry being associated with her, suggesting that someone had altered her body after death, and then presumably buried her into the body. which again makes one wonder why why not just bury her on land and the answer is that maybe they were trying to hide something and sadly not even in death did more get a break as when she was recovered back in the day it was done accidentally after machine had scooped up her remains but not before ripping them into a hundred different pieces that needed to be stitched back together so with that example alone i think we can conclude that life can really just be dang hard which is a fact shared

by what is currently the first known victim of the plague, a 5,000-year-old hunter-gatherer from present-day Latvia. He showed signs of having died around the age of 20, and likely did so after being bitten and infected by a rodent. That unassuming bite would one day come to doom him, as it happened to be laced with the bacteria that humanity knows all too well, Yersinia pestis. In other words, the bacteria responsible for the plagues,

like that of Justinian and the Black Death. So, not good. Now, when you get the plague, it usually comes in three different forms, pneumonic, septic and bubonic. And while we don't know which one the man had, it clearly killed him. And unbeknownst to him, would proceed to kill over 100 million other people through the years. Which is crazy. I mean, seriously, nature just seemed to be more messed up back then.

And I already know I mentioned it, but we as humanity seem to follow that trend, especially during the Neolithic. And there is a buffet of mimed skeletons to choose from from that time. That pun is intended because many of them showed signs of cannibalism. Additionally, we also have nicely preserved specimens that show us that one could go through dismemberment, decapitation, being burned alive, stabbed, bludgeoned, shot with an arrow, or sometimes a combination of all these things together. And obviously, while violence still occurs, in many ways it is comparatively much more tamed

in the present. And I should also mention, there is also the trend of doing this to large groups, as well over 100 mass murder sites are known from throughout the world, showcasing ancient man's enthusiasm for violence and creativity and cruelty. Maybe the takeaway is that for all the flaws of the present, maybe today isn't so bad after all. Thanks for watching and until next time. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th, and the signature Southern Country Rock of

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