A ninth-century mass grave in Gomolava in southeastern Europe reveals violent social upheavals. Credit: Lanmas/Alamy A mass grave from a ninth-century site in Gomolava, Serbia, has been revealed to contain the bodies of dozens of women and children who died in targeted attacks. The massacre presents an unprecedented case of violence targeted at women and children in the European early Iron Age, raising questions about the changing sociopolitical landscape at the time. The analysis of 77 bodies at Gomolava, published on 23 February in Nature Human Behaviour1, revealed strategic violence on a scale and selectiveness that was “certainly new“ to researchers studying the time period, says study co-author Linda Fibiger, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Edinburgh, UK. The findings give clues to shifts in power, violence and gender relations in the region, probably brought about by interactions between migrant and settled communities.…