Digging in the ground, a group of men find what appears to be a shallow grave containing human bones. What alarms the diggers is a perfectly round hole found in the back of the skull of one of the victims. "Looks like he was shot," remarks one of the diggers.

These men are not your average guys digging around in the dirt. These guys are archeologists and anthropologists on a scientific expedition in the mountainous area of Peru, according to reports from the Associated Press.

Turns out the remains in the grave are Inca Indians who’ve been dead for over 500 years. Shot in the head? 500 years ago? Had firearms even been invented that long ago? Turns out early versions of muskets first appeared on the scene in the early 1500s with the invention of the matchlock—an early musket that allowed the shooter to use both hands and aim at a target—in this case a human target.

The skeleton of an Incan with a hole in his or her skull could well have been the first known gunshot victim in the history of the New World.

A microscopic study of the Incan’s skull reveals traces of metal around the edge of the less than one inch round hole. Most likely this was the result of an early version of a musket ball.

Several other Incans were later found at the same grave site with evidence of gunshot wounds. In all, the remains of more than 70 Incan Indians were found in the shallow grave in the mountains near Lima, Peru.

Circumstances of these killings and the identity of the shooters may never be known. But it’s likely that the shooters were Spanish Conquistadors who came to the Americas around 1500 seeking new lands for the mother country. Nothing has really changed in all these years. It’s still a matter of big guys picking on little guys. Had the Incans been armed for self defense, there might still be an Incan culture.