Ice Age Skelett mit gebrochenem Halsknochen gibt einen seltenen Einblick in das Leben der alten Jägersammler

[A well-preserved human skeleton](https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/29/science/ice-age-skeleton-vietnam-interpersonal-conflict?utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit) that scientists recently excavated in Vietnam dates back about 12,000 years ago to the Ice Age and contains the oldest human mitochondrial DNA found in the region. It belonged to a man who died when he was around 35 years old after being pierced in the neck by a projectile with a tip made of quartz that showed signs of human workmanship.

But the man didn’t die right away; analysis of his damaged cervical rib bone revealed signs of tissue growth and an infection that likely caused his death, scientists reported Tuesday in the journal [Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences](https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2025.1819). The man may have lived for months after being wounded until he died and was buried in a cave site named Thung Binh 1 in what is now [Tràng An Landscape Complex](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1438), a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The circumstances of the man’s traumatic injury are unknown, but this case may be the earliest evidence of conflict between hunter-gatherers in mainland Southeast Asia, according to the study. His wound and his survival for some time afterward offer a rare glimpse into the lives of people in this region during the waning days of the [Pleistocene era](https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/quaternary/pleistocene.php) about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago.