Jaws 1300 BC —

Cold-case files: Archaeologists discover 3,000-year-old victim of shark attack

Young adult male lost an arm and a leg before dying of shock and blood loss.

Original excavation photograph of Tsukumo No. 24, a young adult male with evidence of severe trauma consistent with an attack by a white or tiger shark.
Enlarge /Original excavation photograph of Tsukumo No. 24, a young adult male with evidence of severe trauma consistent with an attack by a white or tiger shark.
Kyoto University

Marine biologists have spent decades counteracting the popular misconception that sharks are aggressive predators that target humans, an idea that became particularly prevalent in the wake of the blockbuster Jaws franchise. Butfatal attacksnonetheless do happen—and they happened even in prehistoric times. While examining the skeletal remains of a prehistoric hunter-gatherer cemetery in Japan dating back some 3,000 years, University of Oxford archaeologists found distinctive evidence that one such skeleton had been the victim of a fatal shark attack. They described their findings ina new paperpublished in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. It's the oldest known victim of a shark attack yet—like a prehistoric cold-case file.

The Tsukumo burial site in Japan's Okayama Prefecture was discovered by construction workers in the 1860s and first excavated in 1915. More than 170 human skeletons were unearthed and housed at Kyoto University. The site dates to the Late-FinalJōmon periodof the Japanese archipelago. Co-authors J. Alyssa White and Rick Schulting, both from Oxford, made their discovery while examining the remains for evidence of violent trauma, part of a larger study on violence in prehistoric Japan. Remains categorized as Tsukumo No. 24 showed marks of severe trauma that proved especially puzzling.

"We were initially flummoxed by what could have caused at least 790 deep, serrated injuries to this man,"said White and Schulting. "There were so many injuries and yet he was buried in the community burial ground, the Tsukumo Shell-mound cemetery site. The injuries were mainly confined to the arms, legs, and front of the chest and abdomen. Through a process of elimination, we ruled out human conflict and more commonly-reported animal predators or scavengers."

The team quickly realized the injuries were similar to those left by shark attacks on both modern and archaeological remains. According to the authors, sharks tend to attack (unprovoked) in three different ways. "Hit and runs" usually are single bites and occur in the surf zone; they are rarely fatal. In "bump and bite" attacks, a shark will circle its prey and bump them before attacking; and there is no advance warning when sharks execute a "sneak attack." Those latter two attack types are far more likely to be fatal.

伤害鲨鱼袭击可以很distinc离开tive signs of trauma on the bones, typically caused by cutting, crushing, and tearing by those sharp, sharp teeth. Legs are particularly favored human targets, as is the thorax. Stripped flesh from arms and hands ("degloving") often occurs because the victims try to defend themselves from the attack. Other bone-related evidence of a shark attack includes punctures, gouges, and fractures from the sheer force exerted by powerful jaws, and overlapping serrated (for white, bull, and tiger sharks) striations caused by the teeth scraping across the bone.

These were the types of trauma the authors found on Tsukumo No. 24 during their examination, which involved creating 3D distribution maps of the injuries and comparing them to the photographs and CT scans of the skeleton. No. 24 was a young adult male with evidence of nearly 800 separate perimortem lesions and no signs of any initial stages of healing, meaning he would have died shortly after receiving the lesions.

Most of the injuries are concentrated on the pelvis, left leg, arms, and shoulders. Both the right leg and left hand are missing, and trauma to the remaining adjacent arm bones is consistent with the hand being torn off—most likely a defensive wound. "It is probable that the missing right leg was entirely separated from the body by the shark and either consumed or not recovered," the authors wrote.

The left tibia had the highest number of deep bites, and nearly all the ribs were fractured, as was the pelvis. The authors suggest the chest cavity and abdomen may have been eviscerated, and they believe the young man was alive when he was attacked. Cause of death was probably severe loss of blood (exsanguination)—given the likely severance of the femoral arteries—and extreme shock. He probably died between 1370 to 1010 BC.

"Given the injuries, he was clearly the victim of a shark attack,"said White and Schulting. "The man may well have been fishing with companions at the time, since he was recovered quickly. And, based on the character and distribution of the tooth marks, the most likely species responsible was either a tiger or white shark."

The authors base that conclusion on the fact that the remains of both tiger and white sharks have been found at sites from the Jōmon period. "The Neolithic people of Jomon Japan exploited a range of marine resources,"said co-author Mark Hudsonof the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. "It's not clear if Tsukumo 24 was deliberately targeting sharks or if the shark was attracted by blood or bait from other fish. Either way, this find not only provides a new perspective on ancient Japan, but is also a rare example of archaeologists being able to reconstruct a dramatic episode in the life of a prehistoric community."

DOI: Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2021.10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.103065(About DOIs).

61 Reader Comments

  1. Coming this summer on SyFy: "Sharknado 0: Origins"
    3472 posts | registered
  2. Wow. I bet this study cost an arm and a leg.

    Last edited byZippyPeanuton Fri Jun 25, 2021 3:49 pm

    11364 posts | registered
  3. Quote:
    "The Neolithic people of Jomon Japan exploited a range of marine resources,"


    Clearly the converse was true as well.
    240 posts | registered
  4. Wow. I bet this study cost and arm and a leg.


    Its the kind of study you can really sink your teeth into.
    5660 posts | registered
  5. Its still kind of sad but if I make it to 3000 before popping my clogs I don't think i'll complain.
    109 posts | registered
  6. eavingwrote:
    Its still kind of sad but if I make it to 3000 before popping my clogs I don't think i'll complain.

    Especially if it takes a shark to take you out.
    2455 posts | registered
  7. Is there such a thing as aprovokedshark attack? I doubt that many people would choose to provoke a shark, but even if you did something provocative like ram it with your boat or shoot it, wouldn't the shark just leave?
    3072 posts | registered
  8. Is it shark week again, already?
    3315 posts | registered
  9. 148 posts | registered
  10. Zorbawrote:
    Is there such a thing as aprovokedshark attack? I doubt that many people would choose to provoke a shark, but even if you did something provocative like ram it with your boat or shoot it, wouldn't the shark just leave?


    Yes. I've heard that most Nurse shark attacks are because someone was pulling on the shark's tail or something equally ridiculous while the shark was relaxing on the bottom. I've seen a lot of them laying on the bottom while I was diving and people can't leave them alone.

    ed: laying not paying
    197 posts | registered
  11. Strong enough bite to fracture the pelvis... yikes.

    也想到被咬的胸部(有限公司mbination of the puncture wounds and crushed ribs) really makes me cringe.
    378 posts | registered
  12. Did this spur the subsequent development of more capacious marine vessels?
    432 posts | registered
  13. Candygram...
    16428 posts | registered
  14. cstaltwrote:
    Strong enough bite to fracture the pelvis... yikes.

    也想到被咬的胸部(有限公司mbination of the puncture wounds and crushed ribs) really makes me cringe.

    While there are other critters with stronger bite forces, a great white or tiger shark's bite can readily chomp a person in two.

    这些不得已伸出的直接测量的问题es is that you need a cooperative shark to chomp on your force meter. The most powerful bite ever RECORDED was on a Mako shark off the New Zealand coast, which eventually got a good bite of3000 PSI, or about 13,000 Newtons.

    That's more than enough to sever a human body at any point. It's estimated that tiger sharks and Great Whites have higher bite forces, but they're not terribly cooperative in proving it under experimental conditions.
    15174 posts | registered
  15. I look forward to it on the reboot of Bones.
    3345 posts | registered
  16. Abstract: Well, this is not a boat accident, and it wasn't any propeller, and it wasn't any coral reef, and it wasn't any Jack the Ripper! It was a shark!
    11879 posts | registered
  17. JohnDeLwrote:
    Is it shark week again, already?

    After the Content Wars, every week is Shark Week.
    2455 posts | registered
  18. delonearthwrote:
    Did this spur the subsequent development of more capacious marine vessels?


    Are you wondering if.....they're gonna need a bigger boat?
    11879 posts | registered
  19. Tonight's nightmare brought to you by the term "degloving".
    429 posts | registered
  20. 313 posts | registered
  21. Wow! Just an horrific number of toothmarks on this skeleton.
    16428 posts | registered
  22. Zorbawrote:
    Is there such a thing as aprovokedshark attack? I doubt that many people would choose to provoke a shark, but even if you did something provocative like ram it with your boat or shoot it, wouldn't the shark just leave?

    Well, Steve Irwin died of a provoked stingray attack, so maybe this neolithic Japanese person was shooting a documentary on sharks?
    18874 posts | registered
  23. JohnDeLwrote:
    Is it shark week again, already?

    You gotta admit, Shark Week on Ars is still pretty damned high brow.
    18874 posts | registered
  24. 'degloving'. Such a dry term for such a gruesome event. I can't imagine the poor guy's helpless terror, but he died quickly. Ugh.
    10556 posts | registered
  25. "Shock and blood loss" in the heading made me expect something like a few gouges around where the femoral artery would be, something less than "torn completely to pieces".

    As noted, yeah, at least it would have been quick.
    5428 posts | registered
  26. Wow. I bet this study cost an arm and a leg.

    I don't know but the catch of the day sure did...and then some.
    1362 posts | registered
  27. Rockchurchwrote:
    Tonight's nightmare brought to you by the term "degloving".


    Reading that word in the article gave me a brief, very uncomfortable feeling. Amazing, the power of such a perfectly grotesque term…
    60 posts | registered
  28. jhodgewrote:
    Coming this summer on SyFy: "Sharknado 0: Origins"

    Last edited by2young2retireon Fri Jun 25, 2021 5:56 pm

    11 posts | registered
  29. whiteknavewrote:
    JohnDeLwrote:
    Is it shark week again, already?

    After the Content Wars, every week is Shark Week.

    Maybe the dude was just trying to find three seashells.

    Quote:
    "The Neolithic people of Jomon Japan exploited a range of marine resources," said co-author Mark Hudson of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

    So some things are a constant.
    41524 posts | registered
  30. Now we know why the Asian community loves sharkfin soup....revenge.....
    16428 posts | registered
  31. eavingwrote:
    Its still kind of sad but if I make it to 3000 before popping my clogs I don't think i'll complain.

    Well, Richard Byrd once gave a lecture to scientists going to Antarctica. Concerning crevasses in the ice, he said something like, ``If you fall into one, in a few hundred years you'll be in much better shape than anyone else in this room.''
    8157 posts | registered
  32. BenjaminKwrote:
    Zorbawrote:
    Is there such a thing as aprovokedshark attack? I doubt that many people would choose to provoke a shark, but even if you did something provocative like ram it with your boat or shoot it, wouldn't the shark just leave?


    Yes. I've heard that most Nurse shark attacks are because someone was pulling on the shark's tail or something equally ridiculous while the shark was relaxing on the bottom. I've seen a lot of them laying on the bottom while I was diving and people can't leave them alone.

    ed: laying not paying


    Somehow, that doesn't shock me. I've seen signs in US National Parks telling tourists not to ``tease the bisons.'' And one person working at such a park once told be about a tourist who had stampeded a bison. He wanted to get a good photograph, so he walked close to the animal. The bison wasn't comfortable with that, so he moved away. The tourist followed, which made the bison move off more quickly. And that process repeated a few times until the bison was running away and the tourist was running after it. But the health risk to that tourist didn't come from the animal itself. It crossed a steam where another tourist was fishing, and nearly trampled the guy fishing. He got up out of the stream and immediately tried to punch or strangle the idiot would-be photographer.
    8157 posts | registered
  33. cstaltwrote:
    Strong enough bite to fracture the pelvis... yikes.

    也想到被咬的胸部(有限公司mbination of the puncture wounds and crushed ribs) really makes me cringe.


    How about an attack by multiple sharks instead of a single one? Right now, it sounds like Jaws killed this guy by ripping off a hand, then a leg, crushing his spine and breaking his ribs, ripping out the contents of his thorax and generally chewing the heck out of him before the body was recovered. That's one very angry shark.
    3701 posts | registered
  34. cstaltwrote:
    Strong enough bite to fracture the pelvis... yikes.

    也想到被咬的胸部(有限公司mbination of the puncture wounds and crushed ribs) really makes me cringe.


    How about an attack by multiple sharks instead of a single one? Right now, it sounds like Jaws killed this guy by ripping off a hand, then a leg, crushing his spine and breaking his ribs, ripping out the contents of his thorax and generally chewing the heck out of him before the body was recovered. That's one very angry shark.

    The culprit is thought to be a tiger shark or a great white. Tiger sharks are solitary. Great whites hunt in shoals, but usually don't all attack the same prey item.
    41524 posts | registered
  35. cstaltwrote:
    Strong enough bite to fracture the pelvis... yikes.

    也想到被咬的胸部(有限公司mbination of the puncture wounds and crushed ribs) really makes me cringe.


    How about an attack by multiple sharks instead of a single one? Right now, it sounds like Jaws killed this guy by ripping off a hand, then a leg, crushing his spine and breaking his ribs, ripping out the contents of his thorax and generally chewing the heck out of him before the body was recovered. That's one very angry shark.


    IIRC a shark will chomp and then shake, chomp and shake, chomp and shake until the prey stops squirming. They will rip and tear mouthfuls off of larger prey.

    This poor guy was already well on his way to the afterlife before he knew what was happening.
    170 posts | registered
  36. fcrarywrote:
    eavingwrote:
    Its still kind of sad but if I make it to 3000 before popping my clogs I don't think i'll complain.

    Well, Richard Byrd once gave a lecture to scientists going to Antarctica. Concerning crevasses in the ice, he said something like, ``If you fall into one, in a few hundred years you'll be in much better shape than anyone else in this room.''

    Yeah. In the wayward days of my misspent youth I made several ascents of Rainier. Glacial crevasses are scary.



    REALLYscary.:eek:
    3535 posts | registered
  37. Rockchurchwrote:
    Tonight's nightmare brought to you by the term "degloving".

    As a rock climber I already knew the term.

    PSA: take your rings off if you're going to be in a situation where you might snag them forcefully. Guarantee your partner will be happier knowing you took the ring off briefly than if you come home with a degloved finger.
    19046 posts | registered
  38. numerobiswrote:
    Rockchurchwrote:
    Tonight's nightmare brought to you by the term "degloving".

    As a rock climber I already knew the term.

    PSA: take your rings off if you're going to be in a situation where you might snag them forcefully. Guarantee your partner will be happier knowing you took the ring off briefly than if you come home with a degloved finger.


    When I was a Radar Tech every other week in what was called 'Part 2 Orders' was the warning (more politely worded than here) "Take off rings and watches before sticking your hand in the radar cabinet knucklehead, and always use your right hand even if left handed" The last part is because the route from your left hand to 'ground' goes through your heart. Older scope drives were partly mechanical and if they caught your ring, well.....
    5187 posts | registered
  39. Did the shark have frickin’ laser beams attached?
    1 post | registered

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