Someone Stabbed This Man in the Face 100,000 Years Ago. He Survived.

A young man was stabbed in the face with a sharp stone tool somewhere in what is now northern Israel. He survived. Then he was buried in a cave that may be the oldest known intentional burial site on Earth. Then he waited about 100,000 years for someone to run a micro-CT scan on his jaw.

Qafzeh Cave, discovered by French archaeologist René Neuville in 1933, has long fascinated researchers for its extraordinarily early intentional burials. At least 27 Homo sapiens were found there, with remains dating to roughly 92,000 to 145,000 years ago, making them some of the earliest modern humans known outside Africa.

Qafzeh 25 was excavated in 1979. Researchers recently examined his skull using high-resolution micro-CT scanning along with macroscopic and microscopic analysis. Across his mandible and lower premolars they found a linear wound with a V-shaped profile, the kind of mark a sharp stone edge can leave behind.

And it healed.

The bone shows remodeling, meaning Qafzeh 25 survived for a significant period after the injury. If the wound interfered with eating or drinking, that survival may also mean someone helped keep him alive.

Exactly what happened cannot be known. Interpersonal violence is considered the most likely explanation, although an accident remains possible. Either way, evidence of sharp-force trauma this old is extraordinarily rare.

Qafzeh Cave preserves some of the earliest evidence that humans deliberately cared for their dead. Qafzeh 25 may preserve something else: evidence that someone tried very hard to put a blade through another person's face.

Read the full story at Smithsonian Magazine, July 10, 2026

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