Inside Europe's largest Copper Age tomb, children's bones expose an ancient health crisis hidden for 5,000 years

May 30, 2026 feature Inside Europe's largest Copper Age tomb, children's bones expose an ancient health crisis hidden for 5,000 years Sandee Oster Author Sadie Harley Scientific Editor Robert Egan Associate Editor Nearly 5,000 years ago, respiratory infections, possibly including tuberculosis, were ravaging the children buried at Camino del Molino (CMOL), Spain. The massive circular burial cave carved into rock is Europe's largest Copper Age mass burial, containing over 1,300 individuals, and has been the subject of years of excavation and analysis. Now, a new study published in the International Journal of Paleopathology reveals just how widespread these diseases were and how they left their mark on their bones. Dated to the 3rd millennium BC, the burial site was repeatedly used for over 700 years, resulting in a mass of bones, including men, women, and children. Such prehistoric communal graves rarely preserve intact skeletons, let alone non-adult remains, as bones are often reshuffled over centuries, poorly preserved, or completely absent. However, at CMOL, researchers recovered 48 intact child and adolescent skeletons, providing a rare opportunity to examine skeletal changes associated with respiratory diseases and their impact on childhood health and survival. Disease etched in bones Because so many complete child skeletons survived, the team could look for patterns across whole bodies rather than isolated bones. Of the 48 individuals investigated, 92% had at least one bone change associated with disease. Of those, around 67% showed signs of both porous bones, mainly in the skull and leg bones, and infection-related changes associated with respiratory diseases. "The pattern we see probably reflects a broader burden of recurrent or prolonged respiratory disease rather than a single pathogen," explained Dr. Sonia Díaz-Navarro, lead author from the University of Burgos. While similar bone lesions have been suggested to also occur during early childhood growth spurts, the researchers argue that these lesions occur far too often, together with other signs of respiratory infection, across all examined age groups, including teenagers, to be explained solely by growth-related processes. Further examination revealed that the youngest, aged between 1 and 4 years, and early adolescents between 10 and 14 years old, exhibited the highest rates of bone changes, including serpent-like grooves and pitting on the inside of skulls, vertebrae, hip, and pelvic bones, which previous studies have linked to early-stage tuberculosis when the bacteria are still traveling through the bloodstream. These peaks of infection align with age windows when children and adolescents are most vulnerable to lung infections, including tuberculosis, the study said. Interestingly, most children showed similar bone changes, suggesting that shared living conditions rather than gendered activities may have driven disease. "Children living within the settlement would also have been exposed to many of these same environments: indoor smoke, dust, organic particles from craft and food-processing activities, close contact with animals, and possibly zoonotic pathogens," Dr. Díaz-Navarro said. According to Dr. Díaz-Navarro, individuals with signs of disease were not buried any differently from their peers. "The available evidence suggests that individuals received the same general mortuary treatment regardless of their pathological condition," Dr. Díaz-Navarro said. "This is particularly important because Camino del Molino includes individuals with very visible or significant conditions." Among them were individuals who had undergone skull surgery (trepanation) and even an individual with dwarfism. What comes next Future ancient DNA studies could confirm whether tuberculosis bacteria or other diseases were present at CMOL. Similarly, ancient DNA and isotopic studies are planned to better understand the diets and kinship of these individuals. This would not only highlight what diseases were present but also how age, sex, social roles, and diet may have influenced the living conditions. Finally, "we still need to understand whether similar patterns existed among adults, and whether certain groups were more exposed or more vulnerable," Dr. Díaz-Navarro said. The study paints a grim picture of childhood disease and mortality in the Iberian Copper Age, but despite this, "Disease, disability, or unusual bodily conditions did not necessarily lead to funerary exclusion or differentiation," Dr. Díaz-Navarro said. Written for you by our author Sandee Oster, edited by Sadie Harley, and fact-checked and reviewed by Robert Egan—this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive. If this reporting matters to you, please consider a donation (especially monthly). You'll get an ad-free account as a thank-you. More information Sonia Díaz-Navarro et al, Porous skeletal lesions and respiratory infection-related changes in Chalcolithic non-adults: A biocultural approach from Camino del Molino (southeastern Iberia), International Journal of Paleopathology (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpp.2026.04.001 © 2026 Science X Network