Burial assemblages inform us about the biology of past societies, social relations, and ritual and symbolic behavior. However, they also allow us to examine the circumstances of death and social violence. A high level of intergroup violence among prehistoric hunter-gatherers is well-documented in some times and places but is extremely rare in others. Here we present an analysis of the perimortem injury to skeleton PD8 at the site of Sphinx in Central Sudan. This burial, attributed to the Early Khartoum (Khartoum Mesolithic) culture, radiocarbon dated between 8637 and 8463 cal BP, bears evidence of a perimortem sharp force trauma caused by penetration of an unshaped, fractured non-human bone between the right scapula and the rib cage. Among more than 200 anthropologically assessed human burials from the early Holocene Nile Valley reviewed in this paper, PD8 provides the only documented evidence of violence resulting in death. This rare case of death differs from the numerous cases of intergroup conflict documented in terminal Pleistocene burial grounds in Lower Nubia. This suggests different patterns of violence and strategies of conflict resolution in the pre-Neolithic (terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene) Nile Valley. We attribute this difference in the prevalence of interpersonal trauma to climatic and environmental conditions, territorial boundary defense, and post-marital residence practices before and after the Younger Dryas’ arid millennium (~ 12,800–11,600 BP).

墓葬组合让我们了解过去社会的生物学、社会关系、仪式和象征行为。然而，它们也让我们能够审视死亡和社会暴力的情况。史前狩猎采集者之间的高水平群体间暴力在某些时期和地点有据可查，但在其他时期则极为罕见。在这里，我们对苏丹中部狮身人面像遗址的 PD8 骨骼的临死损伤进行了分析。该墓葬归因于喀土穆早期（喀土穆中石器时代）文化，放射性碳测年日期在 8637 年至 8463 年之间，具有临死时锐力创伤的证据，该创伤是由右肩胛骨和肋骨之间的不成形、断裂的非人骨穿透造成的笼。本文回顾了全新世早期尼罗河谷 200 多个经过人类学评估的人类墓葬，PD8 提供了唯一有记录的暴力导致死亡的证据。这一罕见的死亡案例与下努比亚更新世末期墓地记录的众多群体间冲突案例不同。这表明尼罗河谷前新石器时代（更新世末期和全新世早期）的暴力模式和冲突解决策略不同。我们将人际创伤发生率的差异归因于新仙女木干旱千年（距今12,800-11,600年）前后的气候和环境条件、领地边界防御以及婚后居住习惯。这一罕见的死亡案例与下努比亚更新世末期墓地记录的众多群体间冲突案例不同。这表明尼罗河谷前新石器时代（更新世末期和全新世早期）的暴力模式和冲突解决策略不同。我们将这种人际创伤发生率的差异归因于新仙女木干旱千年（距今12,800-11,600年）前后的气候和环境条件、领地边界防御以及婚后居住习惯。这一罕见的死亡案例与下努比亚更新世末期墓地记录的众多群体间冲突案例不同。这表明尼罗河谷前新石器时代（更新世末期和全新世早期）的暴力模式和冲突解决策略不同。我们将人际创伤发生率的差异归因于新仙女木干旱千年（距今12,800-11,600年）前后的气候和环境条件、领地边界防御以及婚后居住习惯。