A boy of 15 years, known by the moniker ‘the Prince’, was gravely injured by a bear as he searched for sustenance 27 millennia prior and lived for several days before succumbing to his wounds. His skeletal remains were unearthed in 1940 within the Arene Candide Cave, situated in close proximity to Genoa. Share Article Share Article Facebook X LinkedIn Reddit Bluesky Email Copy Link Link copied Bookmark
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A young cave dweller suffered a savage attack in one of the most terrible bear incidents on record – and among the most ancient documented.
Thought to be just 15, a youth later called “il Principe” or “the Prince” ventured out to gather provisions some 27,000 years ago. He was unaware that this would be his final endeavor.
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Millennia later, in 1940, researchers came across his damaged and broken skeleton in present-day Italy, specifically within the Arene Candide Cave near Genoa, as stated by Preistoria Italia.
Half the lower jaw and half the left collarbone are missing; the remaining jawbone and shoulder are damaged; the skull and neck exhibit fractures; and the fibula displays a distinct puncture.
Experts have put forth that the likely cause of his demise was a ferocious assault by a bear. The teenager gained the epithet the Prince on account of his opulent interment, with the Journal of Anthropological Sciences ascribing the skeleton’s injuries to a sizable carnivore, according to the Mirror.
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It mentioned: “Considering the comprehensive pattern of trauma, a bear mauling … stands as the most credible explanation,” the investigators penned. They posit that the attacker was either a brown bear or a now-gone cave bear.”
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Chief study author Vitale Stefano Sparacello articulated: “We are aware that these individuals hunted bears, and that bears generally avoid humans if possible; however, an unforeseen encounter remains a possibility.”
The University of Cagliari academic informed Live Science that the Prince isn’t the initial corpse they have located in the cave complex.
The Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer populations employed the caverns as a final resting place for eons. The Prince’s remains were dated using radiocarbon methods to a period approximately between 27,300 and 27,900 years in the past.
This represents the most ancient burial among all found in the area. The young man’s body was arranged upon a layer of red ochre, bedecked with a headpiece crafted from deer teeth coupled with a multitude of shells.
He was buried along with ivory adornments, fashioned antlers, and a lengthy flint knife. Sparacello commented: “He was presumably a developing hunter still learning the craft when [the attack] transpired.
Regrettably, it is surmised that the bear merely perceived the boy as a danger to be eliminated, and he likely met his end at the hands of a predominantly plant-eating bear – which did not consume him.
Even more distressingly, investigators surmise that the Prince endured for two or three days subsequent to the assault.
Sparacello together with his co-authors detected minute indications of healing on some of the compromised osseous structures.
The recuperative capabilities of these specific bones, as well as the rapid recuperation capacities of adolescents, intimate that the boy’s physique had commenced self-repair by the time he passed away.
Sparacello further added: “He perhaps lapsed into unconsciousness during the occurrence and failed to regain it. In all likelihood, the youth was not unaccompanied, as he received immediate attention.”
The investigators record that, considering the intensity of the bear aggression, “it is astonishing that this adolescent forager managed to survive even for this brief duration.”
The animal must not have severed any of the youth’s critical veins or arteries, culminating in his demise due to a “secondary cerebral trauma, internal bleeding, or multiple organ failure.”
Sparacello stated: “It’s plausible that in the future we will conduct an amelogenin examination on the dental enamel [to ascertain biological sex] or a comprehensive genetic analysis, but destructive analysis must be applied sparingly to these exceptional remains.”
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Notwithstanding the Prince being solely between the ages of 14 and 16, his interment implies he was a noteworthy individual within the community. The alternative explanation suggests that he was granted a unique burial in an effort to avert a parallel incident resembling that of the Prince.
Anthropologist Lawrence Straus observed: “This provides a glimpse into the humanity exhibited by those who dwelt during the last glacial epoch.”