Levant

The crime scene was well known to authorities and research analysts – the Qafzeh Cave in Israel. The victim’s remains had signs of a jaw injury caused by a sharp object. The motive for the crime was obscure. There was some possibility of accidental death, but no witnesses could come forward. Approximately 100,000 years had passed between the commission of the crime and the discovery of the remains in 1979. The case is one of only a handful documented from the Middle Paleolithic period. Yet, scientists using advanced 3D imaging technology have “new evidence of sharp-force trauma in the individual Qafzeh-25,” according to their report, “A Taphonomic Reassessment of Qafzeh 25 and its Implications for Violence, Health and Funerary Practices”