Abstract:In 1934 a grave was found in the church ruins of the Cistercian Abbey at Øm in central Jutland, Denmark (founded in 1172, demolished 1561 AD). The grave contained the skeletal remains of an individual lying in a supine position with the head towards the west. The anthropological analysis revealed that the remains belonged to a young male, aged 25-30 years at death and approximately 162.7 cm tall. He had 9 perimortem sharp force lesions, five of which were cranial and four were postcranial, indicating he suffered a violent death in a swordfight. This paper presents a detailed analysis and description of the individual lesions and their probable effect on the soft tissue, followed by a suggestion for the most likely order of the blows which caused the lesions, and finally a tentative reconstruction of the battle accompanied by photographs. This case illustrates both that forensic pathology can be very useful when applied to an archaeological case and suggests that the forensic pathologist could benefit from examination of ancient cases when interpreting bone lesions in modern cases.

The bow and arrow were an important part of medieval warfare, and the study of projectile injuries in skeletal assemblages has the potential to give valuable insight into the nature of conflict in this period. Projectile injuries are often overlooked in favour of sharp force trauma, and as of yet there have been no experiments looking at skeletal trauma caused by different types of medieval arrows, although several studies have examined prehistoric impact marks. The current study addresses this deficiency by examining the lesions left by three kinds of medieval arrowheads: leaf-shaped broadheads, armour-piercing bodkins, and barbed hunting broadheads,when fired from a longbow into cattle scapulae. The results show that the vast majority of impacts are puncture lesions with shapes that roughly conform to the cross-section of the heads used, and many of the defects perforate the bone entirely and have internal bevelling. Based mostly on wound shape, it is relatively straightforward to distinguish between bodkin and broadhead punctures, while the different types of broadheads leave more similar, yet distinctive, marks. Further experiments are required in order to assess the extent to which it is possible to distinguish between projectile trauma and penetrating trauma made by other types of medieval weapons.