Ancient Serbia mass grave reveals deliberate violence against women and children in Early Iron Age

Archaeologists studying a roughly 2,800-year-old mass grave at Gomolava, Serbia, uncovered 77 skeletons with an unusually high proportion of women (over 70%) and children (about 69%). The remains show extensive blunt-force trauma to the head, suggesting deliberate, close-contact violence by likely taller attackers (perhaps on horseback). Isotope and DNA analyses indicate the individuals came from varied origins, pointing to a heterogeneous group rather than a single local raid and implying a broader ninth-century power struggle in the Carpathian Basin. Researchers view the burial as a strategic act to disrupt kinship networks and rebalance political forces in prehistoric Europe.