Children’s skulls found at edges of Bronze Age villages

The skulls of children have been found at the edges of Bronze Age villages built on stilts in Germany and Switzerland.

The children’s skulls were discovered encircling the perimeter of ancient villages around lakes in Switzerland and Germany. Some had suffered ax blows and other head traumas.

Though the children probably weren’t human sacrifices killed to appease the gods, they may have been offered after death as gifts to ward off flooding, said study co-author Benjamin Jennings, an archaeologist at Basel University in Switzerland.

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Story: Tia Ghose, LiveScience | Photo: Benjamin Jennings et al, Antiquity 2014