A new study has revealed that the death of the Young “Prince” of the Arene Candide, one of the best-known burials in prehistoric Italy, may have been caused by an attack by a brown bear. The research, published in Journal of Anthropological Sciencefocused on the study of trauma on the bones, suggesting the plausible correlation: these are the remains of an adolescent individual (it is not possible to establish the sex with certainty), who died between 14 and 16 years of age and was buried by his loved ones in a cave in the province of Savona (Liguria) with an exceptional grave goods, among the most astonishing in the panorama of the Upper Paleolithic (50,000-10,000 years ago) in Italy.
The burial of the “Prince” of the Arene Candide was discovered during the excavation campaign in the cave carried out in 1942 by Luigi Cardini and Luigi Bernabò Brea, fathers of prehistoric and protohistoric archeology in Italy. He was nicknamed the “Prince” due to the exceptional nature of his kit, consisting of a headdress made with hundreds of perforated shells and deer canines, pendants in ivory, ocher, four thrusters in perforated deer antler (a tool used in prehistory to give more strength when throwing a spear) and a large flint blade, held in his right hand. The burial dates back to around 28,000 years ago. Already in 1942 it was realized that the bones showed a series of traumas, but these were not the subject of subsequent studies, although it was hypothesized that they had been caused by a hunting accident.
A research group led by prof. Vitale Sparacello of the University of Cagliari, carried out for the first time an in-depth analysis of the skeletal trauma present on the remains of the “Prince”. The lesions were analyzed with modern techniques, which also made it possible to identify new ones, trying to reconstruct the possible dynamics of death. Particularly evident (noticed already in 1942) are the lesions to the cervical vertebrae, the mandible (a part of it is even missing) and the left humerus, scapula and clavicle. In addition to these, the new analyzes highlighted the presence of a scratch on the left parietal bone of the skull and a deep puncture on the right fibula. All these serious traumas were found to be perimortal, that is, they occurred in the circumstances of death.
Comparing the patterns of the fatal wounds present on the remains of the “Prince”, these appear to be compatible with the attack by a large carnivore, such as a brown bear (Ursus arctos), a cave bear (Ursus spelaeus), a leopard (Panthera pardus), or a cave lion (Panthera spelaea). The lesion on the left parietal appears to have been caused by a claw, while the wound on the right fibula was caused by a bite. Bear attacks in particular are well known in medical literature, and the concentration of wounds in the upper part of the body (humerus, scapula, clavicle and jaw), typical of this type of attack, caused by bites or claws, seems to see a bear as the main suspect for the teenager’s death.
After the attack, surprisingly, the individual survived for two or three more days before dying. In fact, the wounds show traces of regeneration of bone tissue, a clue that tells us that the “Prince” did not die immediately. Death occurred later, probably due to internal hemorrhage, secondary brain damage, or multiple organ failure. Perhaps the reason why the teenager was buried with such a particular grave goods is to be found precisely in the traumatic and exceptional circumstances of the individual’s death.
The richness of the burial, as often happened in the Upper Paleolithic, was not linked to a hierarchization of society, with individuals less or more important than others, which was still non-existent, but rather to the exceptional nature of the individual or the circumstances of the death and the effect this had on the social group of reference. One could easily postulate that such a bloody and painful death of such a young individual may have required a particular and exceptional funerary ritual from his group. To strengthen this theory, there is also the fact that yellow ocher, used for symbolic purposes in many Paleolithic burials, was found in association with the serious wound to the jaw, which certainly severely disfigured the teenager. The grave goods and the funerary ritual itself may have been the group to which the “Prince” belonged to the way of exorcising pain and mourning.
