Who mortally wounded this man with a quartz projectile 12,000 years ago? Nobody knows.

Researchers examining a well-preserved human skeleton recently excavated in Vietnam concluded that the man was about 35 years old when he died some 12,000 years ago and was mortally injured by a projectile tipped with quartz. The quartz shows signs of “human workmanship” and the skeleton shows signs of recovery from the wound: he was killed, then, by a subsequent infection rather than the projectile itself. The mystery of his death is outlined in TBH1: 12 000-year-old human skeleton and projectile point shed light on demographics and mortality in Terminal Pleistocene Southeast Asia, published this month in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The paucity of well-preserved and dated Pleistocene human remains impedes investigation of demographics and interactions in Late Pleistocene populations in Southeast Asia. Here, we report TBH1, an exceptionally well-preserved approximately 35-year-old male skeleton dated 12 500–12 000 years before present that provides rare insights into these debates. Superior preservation permitted detailed testing of different models of biological affinity and recovery of the earliest mitochondrial DNA evidence from Vietnam. Morphometric analyses indicated an affiliation with extant Southeast Asian Island populations, but with closest overall affiliation with regional Late Pleistocene data. Mitochondrial DNA sequencing showed unambiguous clustering within the M macrohaplogroup and a relationship with the early hunter–gatherer populations of South and Southeast Asia. While osteological analysis indicated good health during life, localized trauma to an accessory cervical rib was detected together with a small quartz flake with characteristics of a micropoint—an exotic technology within existing paradigms—in the immediate superio-posterior thoracic region. A case for a premortem timing for this injury, inflicted by the artefact, is presented. The trauma and subsequent infection are the likely cause of death and, to our knowledge, the earliest indication of interpersonal conflict from mainland Southeast Asia.

In summary, it looks like he got in a fight with someone: “his case may be the earliest evidence of conflict between hunter-gatherers in mainland Southeast Asia.”

The traumatic neck injury was revealed due to the presence of a cervical rib, rare in humans, with damage matching a fragment of opaque quartz 0.7 of an inch long. The small size suggests a small projectile rather than a more substantial weapon such as a spear.

It bore carving marks commonly seen in stone tools from the period. But there were no other quartz tools in the cave, making the projectile point potentially an “exotic technology” that originated elsewhere, according to the study.

Check out the facial reconstruction. That’s a hard 35.