Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

• For years, archaeologists have puzzled over the discovery of the remains of 77 decapitated people at a Neolithic archaeological site in southwestern Slovakia.
• Initial theories suggested that the 7,000-year-old settlement must have witnessed some massacre or ritual sacrifice, but a new study shows that no evidence points to violence being the instigating factor in this macabre scene.
• Because the research team hasn’t found the skulls (or even lower jaw bones), they believe it’s possible that the heads were kept elsewhere as part of a mysterious ritual practice.

Roughly one hour east of Bratislava (the capital of Slovakia) sits the town of Vráble. Located in the Danubian Hills, right along the bank of the Žitava river, it is home to roughly 9,000 people. But beneath this town is something truly remarkable: a Neolithic settlement that stands apart from others in both its size and complexity. The settlement contains 350 house layouts, and at its historical peak, roughly 80 of them were occupied at the same time. It’s estimated that people inhabited the settlement for centuries—from roughly 5250 B.C.E. to 4950 B.C.E.—but the most standout feature of the archaeological site, known as Vráble Veľké-Lehemby, is also its most macabre.

In the summer of 2022, a team of German and Slovak archaeologists discovered the remains of 38 individuals seemingly buried haphazardly, one on top of the other. But they all had one thing in common: They were all headless. Further excavations eventually uncovered a total of 78 individuals, and only a body belonging to a child retained its head.

The archaeologists who made the discovery soon concluded that these Neolithic humans, who were part of what’s known as the Linearbandkeramik culture (Linear Pottery Culture), must have been killed in a terrible act of violence. Could they have died from war, human sacrifice, or some other terrible event?

“It may seem obvious to assume a massacre with human sacrifices, perhaps even in connection with magical or religious ideas,” Maria Wunderlich, Kiel University project leader, said back in 2023. “There are many possibilities and it is important to remain open to new insights and ideas. But it is indisputable that this find is absolutely unique for the European Neolithic so far.”

Three years later, the team is beginning to piece together the truth. In a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, researchers from Kiel University (along with the Slovakian Academy of Sciences in Nitra, Slovakia) have explained that these bodies, which were interred soon after death, were not part of some violent massacre, but of a ritual for which we lack context.

“The features clearly exhibit an intentional manipulation of the bodies,” Katharina Fuchs, a co-author of the study from Kiel University, said in a press statement. “First analyses suggest, above all, that violent ‘decapitations’ were not conducted here, but rather skillful removals of the skulls.”

One big piece of evidence is that no lower jaw bones have been found at the site, suggesting that extreme care was taken to make sure the entire head was removed and kept intact. Interestingly, the team did find neck vertebrae near a ditch wall, suggesting that these were carefully removed once the head was separated from the body.

A leading theory is that the heads played a part in ancestor worship, which is prevalent in other neolithic sites around the world. Çatalhöyük in southern Turkey—arguably the most famous neolithic archaeological site in the world—also contains evidence of post-mortem skull removal. However, unlike Çatalhöyük, archaeologists have yet to find any of the missing skulls at the site.

“We must assume that these practices were embedded in completely different contexts of meaning than those of modern societies,” Martin Furholt, lead author of the study from Kiel University, said in a press statement. “This is what makes an interpretation of them so challenging.”