World’s Oldest Murder Victim Discovered

Forensic technologies have allowed scientists to reconstruct a skull found at a 500,000-year-old communal burial site—and to determine that the ancient human was likely murdered. They say two holes above the left eye of “Cranium 17” show its owner probably suffered a head-on attack by another person. “Murder is an ancient feature of humanity,” co-author Rolf Quam told NPR. The killer’s motives, however, were not equally well-preserved.