A study has led archaeologists to believe the world's first war was in Sudan. Researchers re-examined 61 skeletons from Jebel Sahaba in the Nile Valley. The skeletons are 13,400 years old. They were discovered in the 1960s. For decades, scientists believed the millennia-old humans were killed in a massacre. New research on the injuries revealed that they were killed during a longer war that took place over several years. The skeletons are now regarded as evidence of the earliest organized warfare. Furthermore, the scientists said the war was probably because of climate change.
The researchers conducted an investigation into injuries on the skeletons. They said the injuries were caused by weapons such as arrows and spears. It is likely they happened during a series of conflicts over several decades. The researchers believe rival tribes competed for food and water that were in limited supply because of dramatic changes in climate. Ice covered a lot of the Northern Hemisphere. Flooding caused major changes to the availability of farmland. A researcher said: "People had to survive these changes, which were brutal."