The first war in history (or rather, the first group conflict), according to a theory put forward by some archaeologists, took place in Kenya, near Lake Turkana, about 10,000 years ago. In 2012, the remains of 27 people were found – including 8 women and 6 children – who died violently, probably killed by enemies after a clash for control of resources or portions of territory. The discovery, made by a large team of researchers, with M. Mirazón Lahr as leader, calls into question the hypothesis according to which war is a consequence of the birth of the first settled societies and, therefore, of the invention of agriculture.
The first “historical” wars, i.e. those on which we have specific documentation, are much more recent. The first documented conflict is generally considered to be that between two Sumerian city-states, Lagash and Umma, which occurred about 4,500 years ago.
Since when has war existed? Group conflicts in prehistory
It is not easy to say when the concept of war was born, that is, the violent clash of a group of men against another group of men. For many years it was believed that war was a consequence of the birth of the first settled societies, therefore of the discovery of agriculture (which occurred, as we know, in Mesopotamia around 10,000 years ago and from there slowly spread to the rest of the world): only when man ceased to be a nomadic hunter/gatherer to transform himself into a settled farmer would war arise, because at that moment the need arose to control, and therefore defend, one’s territory. Other theories instead say that already previously, when man was a nomadic hunter/gatherer (and therefore did not permanently occupy a territory), there were violent clashes between groups. On several occasions archaeologists have found the remains of men who died violently before the invention of agriculture, but these are individual people, killed, according to the most widespread interpretation, as part of human sacrifices.
In any case, prehistoric wars were fought with rudimentary weapons: stones, clubs, bows and arrows.
The Nataruk massacre in Kenya
A 2012 discovery supports the hypothesis according to which the concept of war precedes the invention of agriculture. In 2012, in the Kenyan town of Nataruk, near Lake Turkana, archaeologists discovered the remains of 27 human beings, both men and women, many of which showed traces of violence: split skulls, wounds to the neck and chest, obsidian arrows stuck in the bones. More specifically, of the 27 skeletons, 12 were found relatively intact and 10 of them (over 80%) showed traces of violence. Radiocarbon dating revealed that the remains date back to a period between 9,500 and 10,500 years ago, that is, to a period in which agriculture did not yet exist in Kenya and humans were nomadic.
According to researchers, who published a study in “Nature” in 2016, the discovery of Nataruk is the oldest evidence of a war or, at least, a gang massacre. To explain what happened, one hypothesis, impossible to prove, is that a group of hunter/gatherers attacked another group, perhaps for reasons of control of portions of territory or other resources, and that, after having prevailed, they captured and killed the enemies.
The hypotheses are not demonstrable, but it appears clear that the concept of war predates the invention of agriculture.
