ExtinctZoo - The Worst Deaths Ever Discovered In Prehistoric Humans

Episode Date: April 19, 2025

If pain was a business, then humans have created a monopoly out of it, just ask our early ancestors, who sadly for them, have left us some pretty painful fossils showcasing just how brutal prehistoric times were.

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And this problem of suffering and misery is not just exclusive to we modern humans, but rather extends to all humans, i.e., all species that belong to the genus Homo, who have sadly been lost along the way. And while no one can fully agree on the amount, it appears that the number of Homo species to have ever existed sits at around 14, all of who, minus us, have popped up and then disappeared. within the last 2.8 million years or so.

Now we, Homo sapiens, have been around for about 300,000 of those years, which in a general sense can seem long. But when you compare it to the whole 3 million years of the homogenous, then you suddenly realize that it's really not. And when you think about just how long 3 million years is, you can start to imagine how much different the world of our ancient ancestors and cousins was compared to ours, which in turn means different experiences, different pains, and different deaths,

some of which can literally not be recreated today, and not just because what killed them no longer exists, but sometimes because they involve unbreakable achievements, as seen with this first specimen, who is for now the oldest known murder victim ever. This skull may look a bit like yours or mine, but it isn't, as it doesn't belong to a sapien, but rather a homo-hidalbergens, a species or subspecies of archaic humans that existed during the middle Pleistocene. And if it wasn't obvious, this particular individual has, or has, had a major problem, and actually two, those being the giant holes in their head. It was clear

to researchers who found this unfortunate fellow in a Spanish cave that the holes were what had killed them and would have done so pretty quickly, causing a catastrophic head and brain injury. The only question is, though, what caused them? Given that caves are sloped, and in many cases have plenty of sharp points, scientists first thought that a fall had taken out this Heidelbergensis, during which a sharp rock had pierced his noggin. But if that actually was the case, you would not expect there to be two identical holes, and thus making the scenario unlikely. The next assumption was that it might have been an animal, but the problem with that is that there's no animal in Spain during the time that made anything remotely similar to such injuries,

which then led to the last hypothesis, as there was one thing that it did resemble quite a bit, something that the anthropologists are all too familiar with, and that's injuries from human tools. Specifically, the marks looked a lot like those seen from stone axes, which can cause severe blunt force trauma and suggesting that this person had been murdered and given that they were done in about 430,000 years ago or so they are now considered the oldest case in murder or homicide so far and demonstrate that violence may have been a part of our history before we even existed and surprise surprise it also turns out this Heidelbergensis was not alone in death as thousands of other homo bones were found in the cave too with a few of them showing signs of having been domed as well yet none were as old as this particular specimen

And the current belief is that this cave may have been the oldest examples of a designated burial site, or people who died from virtually anything were tossed into, be it a violent death or not. And in the case of our poor friend, this early violence could have been the result of a fight over resources or territory, resulting in him having been oft in the end. So overall, not a great way to go, but arguably much better than what happened to this guy, who was dubbed OH7. Now, OH7 was not a hylaborgenses, but rather a homo habit. one of the oldest human species which lived in South and East Africa.

And in addition to being one of the oldest, they were also one of the smallest humans ever, with individuals only being around 4 feet or 1.2 meters tall, resulting in them being very, very fragile, and making life challenging for them from the get-go. But in the case of OH7, life, or rather death, wasn't just challenging, it was downright unfair. And is another case of a death that is no longer possible. And not because he holds any first-time achievements, but in the case of his time achievements, but in the case of his life, Instead, because he was killed by something or some things which no longer exist, extinct animals. This individual in life would have lived in an ancient wetland area where a variety of predators

thrived. And it seems that one day will offer a drink, he was attacked by one of the worst things you could possibly run into. A crocodile, and a giant one of that. And not just any old giant crocodile, but rather the largest true crocodile species to have ever lived. The crocodilus, Thorbjorn, Sunny. A now extinct species, which could crack 7.6.

meters or 25 feet in length while weighing over two tons. So in other words, a very unfair matchup for our little ancient relative. Based on the remains, it appears that the crocodile had ambushed OH7, who had managed to quickly turn away but was caught at the last second, as his left leg bore massive puncture marks. There were also parts of his leg that were completely missing, implying that had been torn clean off in the attack, which in a hot mucky wetland was basically a death sentence, even if you didn't bleed out. And yet, Mother Nature still deem this not to be punishment enough. As in one of the rarest cases known,

it seems that he was then attacked by a second completely different predator, a feline, specifically a leopard-sized one. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that it was definitely a leopard that made up the tag team duo, but whatever did attack him, attacked the back of his head,

leaving long grooves in his parietal bone, which does align with a leopard's hunting strategy, or at least a closer related panthera species. And just if it wasn't clear, OH7 unfortunately died, as both marks on his head and leg showed absolutely no signs of healing. Now, I will say, it is technically possible that he died first from the crocodile attack and then got picked apart by a feline, but because the croc only took one leg

and because the damage from the feline was in a spot that is associated with predatory behavior, some think it really was a dual attack. And it's hypothesized that after getting attacked by the croc, he may have turned to face it while trying to fight back, leaving his back wide open to a nearby feline, and thus spelling his doom. And for what it's worth, even today on multiple occasions, crocs and felines have been observed fighting over an animal.

However, thankfully, the animals involved today do not include an extinct feline and a massive, never-again-seen-sized crocodile. So this death surely must have sucked. But remember, it's not always the violent demises that are the most painful. Take Exhibit A, for example. This is K-N-M-E-R-1808, a 1.7-million-year-old Homo erectus from Kenya, who had a troubled history with A, not the letter, but the vitamin, vitamin A, which while being an essential vitamin, can be harmful in large amounts, and too much of it is what apparently killed our Homo erectus friend over a million years ago. And trust me, that's not a good way to go.

Her partial skeleton was first located back in 1974, and scientists immediately noted there was something wrong with it, as her bones showed up normal growth patterns, namely excess bone turnover, and held evidence of long-term massive bleeding. And yet, there were no clear wounds. And while this may sound perplexing and mysterious, it was actually quite straightforward to the researchers, as the bone growth were consistent with what's seen in hypervitaminosis A, aka vitamin A toxicity, a condition that is well known in both ancient and modern times, with this erectus so far, being the oldest example of the disease within humans. The patterns in her bones suggest that this was a condition that she dealt with chronically,

and is what ultimately killed her, despite it not usually being a very dangerous condition in modern times. And presumably, given the lack of medical awareness back then, she was taking in too much without knowing it, which on top of her bone problems would have caused symptoms such as weakness, headaches, sowing off of skin, the loss of hair and teeth, and a lot of joint pain, which is reflected by her limbs bearing the most pathological bone growth. And it was likely over a long duration of time that she had these problems, which thus begs the question, where did she get all this vitamin A? And the answer is that all signs point to one key suspect. Carnivore liver, a well-known source of vitamin A.

And in some predators of today, like the polar bear, the liver can store so much of it that it could theoretically supply a human with nearly 150 years' worth of the vitamin, and naturally, not knowing this, probably played a big role in her undoing. Now, while likely not as painful as this ending, another prehistoric death that definitely would have sucked, simply going off of how scary it sounds, is what happened to the Tong Childs 2.8 million years ago. In today's day and age, if we find ourselves scared by something outside, it usually results in as frankly looking around us, or if in the water, beneath us, but never really up in the sky. And yet, a long time ago, you might have needed to, as large predatory birds prowled the skies

and terrorized the lands of Africa, and we're not afraid to take a stab at the occasional human, or rather hominins, which in this case was a seriously unlucky Australopithecus. And despite this breaking the Homo rule, because again it's Australopithecus, I am including it, given the sheer uniqueness of the case, as the Tong child was found with horrific injuries to his face and head, including puncture marks of the bottom eye sockets, while the top of his cranium was deeply scratched. And interestingly enough, such injuries are actually fairly identical to what's seen in monkeys today that have fallen prey to eagles, suggesting that a large bird had sunk its beak and talons into the Tong child's eyes and head, likely killing him

rather quickly, or at least hopefully, before he was then hauled off to be consumed. But the story does not end here, as his death spawned a new mystery. You see, the tongue child is really just a skull, meaning that the body was never found. And what's more is that it was located in a remote part of the Kalahari Desert, in a cave where no other bones were found, be it human or other animals. And thus leading researchers to ask how the skull ended up here, of all places. And this has led to a second hypothesis regarding the specimen, where in death, it, or rather its skeleton, had been used by its attackers to build a nest, before the head eventually became dislodged and tumbled down, which by sheer coincidence ended up rolling into a nearby cave where it would then lie for

millions of years before being unearthed once more. So with all this said, I bet you'll never look at birds the same way again, but something you're probably already weary of is water. While necessary to life, it can also cause extreme discomfort to say the least. In drowning is often ranked as one of the worst ways to go, which is seriously misfortune is this might have fell on possibly the entire Homo erectus species, or at least what was left of them. The erectus were one of the most successful human species of all time, and actually the longest lived, having been the first Homo to not only leave Africa, but also colonize Europe and Asia,

where in the latter, they would make their final stand. And as far as we know, the youngest erectus fossils ever, dating to about 110,000 years ago, came from the island of Java, and strangely enough, all of them perished in a mass death event. To be exact, nearly 100 years ago, a research team on the island stumbled upon a graveyard of over a dozen erected specimens, who were all adults and were mangled together in one spot. And given the lack of evidence for disease, physical wounds, or old age, it was presumed that they all had died at the same time from one thing. But the question is, what exactly could have done it?

Well, based on the type of sediment in which they were found, it was concluded that a flood was possibly a part of the answer, with the belief being that all the bodies had been swept away by floodwaters down to a narrowing river, where they then ended up getting trapped in a log jam, thus forming a kind of carcass jam, I guess, which eventually fossilized. But this does not necessarily mean that they were killed in said flood, but rather they were just swept away by it at some point. However, for now, it is still believed that a mass drowning was behind the actual deaths. And one more narrowed down idea is the belief that a volcanic eruption in particular was their undoing, as it potentially caused Lahar flows, which are cold and hot

mixtures of rock and water that run down the slope of a volcano, wreaking havoc and typically overflowing rivers. And we know from modern times that such events can cause widespread local devastation, traveling more than 60 miles and in some cases killing tens of thousands of people. And if a volcanic Lahar really was the perpetrator in killing the last erectus, then it would be one of the only fossils that we know of that truly shows an extinction event in process. Though it should be mentioned that volcanic eruptions or mass flooding were not the reason why erectus died out in general, with the main belief being that in Java, the last populations started to wither after its woodland biome started to change into a rainforest.

Additionally, it is of course possible, and even probable, that younger remains of erectus are out there too. It's just that for now, these fossils represent the final note members, making the whole thing just that much more tragic, it also poetic. Unfortunately, there's nothing poetic with this next case though, which was just brutal, Because it involves one of the worst animals be taken out by, a hyena, who are known to eat their victims alive and utilize horrific bite and pull methods, which rip away chunks of meat from the victim.

Very painful, to say the least. And the hyenas I'm talking about weren't just some modern ones that you'd find on a safari, but rather a now extinct giant one, the Paki Krakuta, who is among the largest hyenas to ever live, with adults sometimes breaking 150 kilograms or 330 pounds, making them rivals to lionesses when it comes to size. And to make matters worse, their weight was not distributed like that of a lion, as they had proportionally massive heads, with massive indentations indicative of powerful muscles, which resulted in them biting down with monstrous forces, allowing them to do things like this.

This is a multi-hundred thousand-year-old erectus skull that was absolutely obliterated by Apaki Krakuta, and it wasn't alone, as this is actually just one of the more than 28 specimens found in the Zhao Kudian Peking Man site in the in China, who met very grisly ends, presumably. You may have heard of the Peking Man before, acclaimed subspecies of erectus, who were found within a cave, but you probably didn't know that of the 28 plus specimens, approximately 67% had bite marks which are thought to have come from the Paki Krakuda. And bites is putting it lightly, as multiple erectus body parts have been found that can only

be described as smashed or obliterated, likely from attempts by the hyenas to access the nutritious bone marrow within. or perhaps just to eat the entire parts of the bone hole. And considering the state of the skeletons, I'd say they were rather successful. Back in the day, given the sheer insanity of the damage, and because man-made tools were also found, it was first thought that the Peking man had inhabited this cave and these specimens were rather evidence for cannibalistic murders. However, upon further analyzing all the bones, including the non-human ones, it became

clear that at least to some degree, hyenas, had been behind the Symphony of Death, with the current idea being that this cave actually represented a Paki Krakuda den, but at various points after abandonment was also used by mankind, thus explaining the tools. And besides showcasing just how horrifying hyena attacks were, the site has also served as a reminder not to take our apex predator status for granted. Because while erected us were major predators for many animals, and even contested with carnivores, it seems that in prehistoric China, they were still not at the top of the totem pole, with that spot going to our giant hyenas, which especially seems to to be the case when considering that many human bones have been found with Pachy-Kakura

kutha damage, while the opposite cannot be said. And let's face it, there's not much you can do against lion-sized hyenas even if you did have a spear. And for what it's worth, there's also the hypothesis that hyenas themselves were for a long time the literal reason why humans were not able to expand into certain areas. And even beyond the Paki Krakuta, we know many instances where a hyena took a nip out of a human, including in modern times, as they are sometimes known to become man. So that's all to say, it really makes me grateful that we at least do not have to worry about

giant ones. And something else you no longer have to worry about is not having a toothbrush. Now that probably doesn't seem like a big deal, but tell that to the Turkana boy, or K-NM-WT-15,000, another Homo erectus specimen, as they just really didn't seem to be able to catch a break. But unlike the Peking Man, this specimen did not live in Asia, but rather in Kenya. And he lived much earlier too, with his bones aiding back to between 1.6 and 1.5 million years ago. At the time, the erectus had already invented some pretty nifty tools, and might have even at control of fire, or at least partially. Yet, what they did not seem to have unlocked just yet was good dental hygiene, as the draconda boy did not have any major catastrophic wounds, but instead

an interesting pathology in his mouth. To be precise, he showed signs of having formed a nasty abscess, after his milk teeth had fallen out and his molars and pre-mullers had come in awkwardly, resulting in the two teeth colliding and damaging the tissues, which ultimately gave way to infection and anapstice that never healed, highly implying that he died from it, and at a young age, as the fallen teeth were baby teeth, and it's thought that he succumbed around the age of eight or nine. And based on what we know about present-day tooth infections, it's thought that septicemia is likely what did him in, a nasty condition that occurs when bacteria, or their toxins, cause blood poisoning, aka sepsis, which even today is quite challenging to treat,

and back then was almost certainly a death. sentence, as it was in his case as well. Based on the location of where he was found, it's presumed that at some point during his sickness, he fell face first while traversing swampy land, unable to get up due to being already weakened by his ailment, and then ultimately died floating face down in swampy waters, and sometimes really does seem like the universe has it out for a certain people, as he couldn't even die in peace, with some researchers believing that not so long after his death, a herd of animals trampled his body into the muddy swamp floor, enough for it to get fossilized. And then meanwhile, sometime later on, a part of a skeleton would end up

getting sandwiched in between volcanic ash from a local eruption, solidifying his remains further and creating a tomb that would last for over a million years. And according to some researchers, all these woes were not even the end of the list. As once upon a time, it was thought that the Turkana boy suffered from a congenital condition such as dwarfism or scoliosis, as his ribs seemed to be out of place relative to his spine. But over the years, as technology has improved, it has turned out this may not actually be the case. And during the reanalysis, they made a new discovery, which found that while he might not have suffered from dwarfism or scoliosis, he definitely had suffered from a severely herniated disc that was so out of place

that given the lack of technology back then, might have been a double grim reaper, so to speak. In other words, if his mouth infection didn't get him, then his herniated disc would have, causing him to have very little mobility and in no condition to fight off any sort of predator. which all just goes to make you realize that a lot of first world ailments today used to be death sentences back then. Talk about an eye-opener. Thanks for watching, and until next time.

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