Overview
- Researchers examined 77 individuals from the Gomolava site dated to the mid‑9th century BC, finding roughly two‑thirds were children or adolescents and about 71% of sexed individuals were female.
- Skeletal analysis documented unhealed lethal trauma concentrated on the head, alongside projectile and defensive injuries consistent with organized killing.
- Ancient DNA and isotope results show most victims were not closely related and many spent childhood outside the Carpathian Basin, indicating origins across multiple communities.
- The interment was deliberately staged with personal ornaments, ceramic vessels, perimeter postholes, abundant animal remains including an articulated calf, broken quern stones and burnt seeds.
- Screening detected no pathogen DNA, reinforcing an interpretation of selective, gender‑ and age‑targeted violence linked to shifting power dynamics and contested land use in the Early Iron Age Carpathian Basin.