Researchers found evidence of two beasts fighting over one four-foot man’s tiny body, shredding his limbs clean off his torso before leaving him to decompose.
One of the oldest man’s grim death at the jaws of an extinct mega-beast may be one of the most violent and grim in history.
The man dubbed OH7, was a Homo habilis, one of the oldest human species which lived in south and east Africa was killed by a mammoth crocodile. Thankfully, these horrific creatures no longer exist.
The Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni, a crocodile from the Turkana Basin in Kenya, was the largest to ever live, reaching up to 25 metres long and weighing 25 tonnes.
In addition, the Homo habilis was also one of the smallest species – with people around 4 feet tall “resulting in them being very very fragile and making life very hard for them”, according to Extinct Zoo.
OH7 – an individual would have lived in an ancient wetland area, received his first death sentence when the croc ripped his leg clean off – as his wound would have been instantly encased in unsanitary, hot mud.
Then the second arrow was delivered. A feline then attacked his head – leaving long grooves in his bones. Researchers think the cat may have been a leopard.
Extinct Zoo said: “It’s hypothesised that while getting attacked by the croc – he may have turned to face it while leaving his back wide open to a nearby feline.”
Even today crocs and felines have been observed fighting over the same item of prey – so this could well have been how OH 7 met his demise.
In another horrific death, a Homo heidelbergensis, a species of archaic human from the Middle Pleistocene of Europe and Africa, was found with holes in his skull in a Spanish cave in what is thought to be the oldest ever murder. This means he would have died quickly from catastrophic head and brain injury.
The cave was sloped and had sharp points, leading scientists to think these may have made the holes – but the holes were identical. So it was then thought it was an animal that caused the holes- however no animals’ teeth matched these mark.
It was concluded the holes must have come from stone axes – which cause severe blunt force trauma – meaning this man was likely murdered 430,00 years ago.
Extinct Zoo said: “It is now considered the oldest case of murder and demonstrates that murder may have been part of our history before we even existed.”
Thousands of other bones were found in the cave too, meaning many many more could have suffered the same fate. However, none were as old as the original case of Homo heidelbergensis murder.
The current belief is this cave may have been one of the oldest examples of a designated burial site. “This early violence could have been a fight as a result of a dispute over resources or territory, ” the channel added.
