A shattered skull discovered among fractured and fossilised skeletons at the site of an archaeological dig at Achenheim, north-eastern France, in photos received from the French National Institute of Archaeological Research (Inrap) yesterday.

The discovery indicates that the site about 10km from Strasbourg, which consisted of 300 ancient "silos" used to store grain and other food, was where the victims of an apparent massacre over 6,000 years ago were dumped, archaeologists announced.

The team discovered the remains of 10 people in total, including six complete skeletons, according to France's L'Express news website.

The six were all male, with five of them adults and one a teenager.

They had numerous fractures on their limbs, hands and skulls. Also found were four arms from different individuals. The way in which the bodies were piled on top of one another suggested the victims met a violent death together.