Archaeologists discover the world's oldest murder victim

A study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One describes what was likely a grisly murder — and it happened 430,000 years ago.

A skull found in Spain's "Pit of Bones" in the Atapuerca Mountains is evidence of the world's first murder. It dates to the Middle Pleistocene time period and belonged to a young adult.

The skull is covered in red clay and was shattered into pieces. Forbes explains that the skull also showed two depression fractures, proving the victim was subject to blunt force trauma to the head. The researchers explain that the skull fractures were not accidental, since both fractures were likely caused by the same object and are found on the skull's facial region. They believe the victim's death was "the result of interpersonal violence."

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Nohemi Sala of the Complutense University of Madrid, author of the study, explains in the paper that the find is significant because it "represents the earliest clear case of deliberate, lethal interpersonal aggression in the hominin fossil record." According to Sala, the find proves that murder was "an ancient human behavior," rather than a more recent development.