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德国基尔大学发布公告称，研究人员在中欧的一条沟渠中发现了数十具古代人骨，其中几乎所有遗骸都被斩去了头颅。研究人员承认，“第一眼望去这是一幅令人毛骨悚然的场景”。但这些距今7000年的无头遗骸，实际上为了解当时居住在该地区的农耕社群提供了新的视角。
该大学与斯洛文尼亚科学院共同资助了一项长达数十年的研究项目，考古学家借此在斯洛伐克小镇弗拉布莱的遗址中发掘出了这些骸骨。参与该项目的研究人员近日还在《史前社会学报》期刊上发表了关于此次发现的研究论文。
尽管在弗拉布莱发现的78具骸骨相互堆叠，可能让人联想到曾发生过某种大屠杀，但研究人员表示，目前的分析表明，这些遗骸是被刻意以这种方式下葬的，可能属于新石器时代的一种文化传统。
基尔大学教授、该研究的主要作者马丁·富尔特在一份声明中表示，这些墓葬“看起来不同寻常”。据该大学介绍，根据其团队目前收集到的证据，这些墓葬可能反映了古代定居者的“社会习俗”，这些定居者在公元前5250年至公元前4950年左右居住在弗拉布莱地区。
弗拉布莱发掘现场的无人机画面
尼尔斯·米勒-舍泽尔 / 基尔大学
研究人员于2012年开始对该遗址进行调查，希望进一步了解其与欧洲历史上一个重要时期的关联——当时陶器和农业都迎来了繁荣发展。目前的发掘遗址范围涵盖了他们认为是新石器时代三个不同居住区共300座房屋的原址，其中一个居住区被发现骸骨的沟渠环绕。
骸骨以看似随机的姿势堆叠或散落在彼此周围，除一具外全部无头。研究人员表示，仅发现了一具儿童骸骨，其颅骨完整留存。
他们还认为，这些遗骸所属的个体在死亡后不久即被下葬。目前尚不清楚头颅的去向，但研究人员推测，头颅可能被单独安置在墓葬区域之外。
“这些特征清晰地表明，尸体曾被刻意处理，”同样来自基尔大学的该研究合著者凯瑟琳娜·富克斯在一份声明中说道。
学生在遗址中发掘骸骨
蒂尔·库尔 / 基尔大学
但富克斯表示，种种证据并不支持生前遭遇暴力斩首的说法。相反，头颅似乎是在死后被熟练地从躯体上分离下来的。这一发现与其他史前社会骸骨被类似人为处理的案例有所不同。
研究人员称，在类似案例中，这种墓葬模式被解读为冲突或危机的迹象，但他们认为此次发现并非如此。
“尸体及身体部位的下葬方式，可能是更复杂、具有特殊意义且反复出现的习俗的一部分，”另一位合著者尼尔斯·米勒-舍泽尔说道，富尔特补充道：“我们必须假设，这些习俗所处的意义背景与现代社会完全不同。这也正是对其进行解读的难点所在。”
Dozens of 7,000-year-old headless human skeletons discovered in ditch: “A terrifying sight at first glance”
June 9, 2026 / 3:22 PM EDT / CBS News
By Emily Mae Czachor News Editor
Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She typically covers breaking news, extreme weather and climate. Emily Mae previously wrote for outlets like the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.
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Researchers have discovered dozens of ancient human skeletons, with nearly all of their heads severed, in a ditch in central Europe — a find they acknowledge “presents a terrifying sight at first glance.” But the headless remains dating back 7,000 years actually provide new insights into farming communities who resided in that region at the time, according to an announcement from Germany’s Kiel University.
The university and the Slovanian Academy of Sciencies jointly backed a decadeslong research endeavor that brought archaeologists to the site in Vráble, a small Slovakian town, where the skeletons were unearthed. Those involved in the project have now also released a study on their findings, which was published in the journal Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society.
Although the 78 skeletons found piled atop one another in Vráble could suggest some kind of massacre took place, the researchers said their analyses so far indicate they were deliberately interred that way, potentially as part of a Neolithic cultural tradition.
Martin Furholt, a professor at Kiel University and the study’s lead author, said in a statement that the burials “appear unusual.” Based on the evidence his team has gathered so far, they may reflect the “social practices” of ancient settlers, who inhabited the area around Vráble from approximately 5250 to 4950 B.C.E., according to the university.
Drone footage of the excavation site at Vráble. Nils Müller-Scheesel/Kiel University
Researchers began to investigate the site in 2012, hoping to learn more about its ties to an important period in European history where both pottery and agriculture boomed. The excavation site now encompasses what they believe were once the locations of 300 houses in three different neighborhoods during the Neolithic era, one of which was surrounded by the ditch where the skeletal remains were found.
The skeletons were discovered in seemingly random positions, both on top of and beside one another, and all but one were found headless. Researchers said just one skeleton of a child was uncovered with its skull intact.
They also believe the people to whom the remains once belonged were buried shortly after their deaths. It is not clear what happened to the heads, although researchers hypothesized that they could have been kept somewhere separate from the burial site.
“The features clearly exhibit an intentional manipulation of the bodies,” said Katharina Fuchs, a co-author of the study also from Kiel University, in a statement.
Students excavate skeletons at the site. Till Kuhl/Kiel University
But Fucjhs said evidence does not suggest that violent decapitations took place. Instead, the skulls appeared to be removed skillfully from the bodies after death. That sets these findings apart from other instances where skeletal remains of prehistoric societies were found to be physically manipulated in similar ways.
In comparable examples, they said such burial patterns were interpreted as signs of conflict or crisis, which they do not believe played a role here.
“The deposition of bodies and body parts may have been part of more complex, meaningful and recurring practices,” said Nils-Müller-Scheesel, another co-author of the study, while Furholt added: “We must assume that these practices were embedded in completely different contexts of meaning than those of modern societies. This is what makes an interpretation of them so challenging.”
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