In a chilling glimpse into the distant past, the brutal final moments of a prehistoric Japanese man have been pieced together in vivid, gory detail, revealing the oldest known shark attack in human history. Known as “Tsukumo 24,” after the Jōmon-era burial ground where his broken remains were uncovered, this man’s skeletal remains bear nearly 800 tooth marks, a missing hand, and a severed leg—testament to a ferocious encounter with a killer shark over 3,000 years ago. This gruesome discovery, unearthed in a shell mound in Japan’s Tsukumo cemetery, predates the earliest documented shark attack by centuries, rewriting the history of human encounters with these oceanic predators.
A Grisly Find in an Ancient Burial Ground
The story begins in 1920, when archaeologists excavated a Jōmon-culture shell mound in Okayama, Japan, near the serene Seto Inland Sea. Among the relics of this ancient fisher-hunter-gatherer society, they found the remains of Tsukumo 24, carefully preserved and later stored at Kyoto University. Fast forward to recent years, when a team led by Oxford University researchers, including PhD student J. Alyssa White and professor Rick Schulting, stumbled upon this skeleton while studying violent trauma in Jōmon-era remains. What they found was unlike anything they expected: a body ravaged by deep, serrated wounds, with a hand sheared off and a leg entirely missing.
Radiocarbon dating placed the man’s death between 1370 and 1010 BC, during Japan’s Jōmon period—a time when communities thrived on fishing and foraging. Standing just 1.5 meters (5 feet) tall, Tsukumo 24 met a violent end that predates the earliest written accounts of shark attacks from 5th-century-BC Greece. Published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, the team’s findings mark this as the earliest archaeological evidence of a shark attack ever recorded.
Reconstructing a Savage Attack
At first, the researchers were baffled by the sheer extent of Tsukumo 24’s injuries. His bones bore nearly 800 tooth marks, with at least 90 penetrating deep into the bone itself. The wounds varied in size and shape, painting a chaotic picture of violence. To unravel the mystery, the team turned to modern forensic data on shark attacks, collaborating with George Burgess, director emeritus of the Florida Program for Shark Research. By mapping the wounds onto a 3D model of a human skeleton, they reconstructed a horrifying scene.
The evidence suggests Tsukumo 24 was alive during the attack, likely losing his left hand while desperately fending off the shark. His right leg was torn away, and the severing of major arteries would have caused catastrophic blood loss, leading to a swift death from hypovolemic shock. The researchers believe the attack was so rapid and brutal that Tsukumo 24 stood little chance of survival.
A Predator from the Deep
What kind of shark could inflict such devastation? Based on the size and pattern of the tooth marks, the researchers narrowed it down to two likely culprits: a tiger shark or a great white shark, both formidable predators known to roam the waters near Japan. The swift recovery of Tsukumo 24’s body suggests he was not alone at the time of the attack. He may have been fishing with companions, possibly using bait that attracted the shark or even deliberately targeting sharks—a risky endeavor that could have drawn the predator’s deadly attention.
Study co-author Mark Hudson, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, notes that it remains unclear whether Tsukumo 24 was actively hunting sharks or if the shark was lured by blood or bait in the water. Either way, the attack was a frenzied assault, with the man likely striking at the shark’s nose in a futile attempt to escape as it tore into his leg.
A Window into Ancient Perils
This discovery does more than recount a single man’s tragic end—it offers a rare glimpse into the dangers faced by Japan’s ancient coastal communities. The Jōmon people, known for their intricate pottery and reliance on the sea, lived in close connection with the natural world, but this intimacy came with risks. Tsukumo 24’s fate underscores the ever-present threat of the ocean’s apex predators, a danger that persists to this day.
As Dr. J. Alyssa White poignantly observes, “We are still vulnerable in the same ways as Tsukumo Individual No. 24 was in the water.” Yet, for those who steer clear of the ocean’s depths, the story of Tsukumo 24 serves as a haunting reminder of nature’s raw power. For the Jōmon people, the sea was both a lifeline and a source of mortal peril—a duality vividly captured in the bones of a man who met his end in the jaws of a shark over three millennia ago.