An arrowhead injury in a Neolithic human axis from the natural cave of Lapa do Bugio (Sesimbra, Portugal)

Abstract

Lapa do Bugio is a small natural cave located in a limestone cliff hanging over the sea at Azóia, Sesimbra, around 40 km south of Lisbon. This cave was used as burial place in the Late Neolithic. The necropolis comprised ten individual graves, an ossuary and a small cache, but today it is impossible to assign bones to individual graves. Therefore the anthropological remains were studied as if they were from an ossuary. The human remains from this site housed in the Museu Municipal de Sesimbra were recently re-studied by the current authors. Based on the number of mandibles, the remains represent at least 16 individuals, 15 adults and one sub-adult. Among the three vertebral remains, an arrowhead was found embedded in the second cervical vertebra of an adult of unknown sex. The tip had entered into the vertebral body and the other end of the arrowhead was lodged against the spinous process, indicating that this projectile had entered from behind. Therefore, this injury penetrated through the spinal cord of the individual, who could not possibly have survived. X-rays and computer tomography confirmed that there were no signs of healing. No other indications of trauma were observed in the human bone sample. The aim of this paper is to describe this projectile injury. It represents the first Portuguese Late Neolithic case in which an arrowhead has been found embedded in bone and adds to the very few archaeological case descriptions available worldwide.

New Evidence of Early Chalcolithic Interpersonal Violence in the Middle Ebro Valley (Spain): Two Arrowhead Injuries from the Swallet of Las Yurdinas II

“…The same occurs when analysing the direction (left to right or vice versa) or the plane (from top to bottom or sub‐horizontal) of the impact, where heterogeneity seems to rule. Finally, it is noteworthy that all the skeletons showing arrowhead injuries with precise age and sex estimation are juvenile or adult men, a fact that agrees with other contemporary evidence from southwestern Europe (Beyneix, ; Campillo, ; Campillo, ; Campillo et al, ; Guilaine & Zammit, ; Silva, ; Silva & Marques, ; Silva et al, ; Trancho & Robledo, ). The traditionally discussed cultural association between masculinity and aggressiveness could be an explanation, as proposed in a recent study concerning the analysis of cranial traumas in Spanish prehistoric populations (Jiménez‐Brobeil et al, ), but there is still insufficient archaeological evidence to support this hypothesis.…”

An Arrowhead Injury in a Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic Human Cuneiform from the Rockshelter of La Peña de Marañón (Navarre, Spain)

“…Arrowhead injuries identified to date in the Iberian Late Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic are almost exclusively located on the skull, thorax and upper limb, with four, 14 and five cases, respectively (Armendáriz et al , ; Campillo, ; Campillo, ; Campillo et al , ; Etxeberria and Herrasti, ; Fernández‐Crespo, ; Silva, ; Silva and Marques, ; Silva et al , ; Trancho and Robledo, ; Vegas et al , ), whereas only one example was known until recently for the lower limb, specifically a non‐adult femur from San Juan ante Portam Latinam (Etxeberria and Herrasti, ). The case of La Peña de Marañón adds to this evidence, being a unique finding because of its location in a footbone.…”

“…The most significant ones are the rockshelter of San Juan ante Portam Latinam (Álava), the monument of Longar (Navarre) and the swallet of Las Yurdinas II (Álava), with respectively 13, four and two embedded projectile points or point fragments (Armendáriz et al , ; Fernández‐Crespo, ; Vegas et al , ). Moreover, there also exist two other isolated cases in Catalonia (Bòbila Madurell and Camí de Can Grau), one in Ávila (Cerro de la Cabeza) and two more in Portugal (Lapa do Bugio and Dolmen de Ansião) (Campillo, ; Campillo, ; Campillo et al , ; Etxeberria and Herrasti, ; Silva, ; Silva and Marques, ; Silva et al , ; Trancho and Robledo, ).…”

Penetrating Spinal Injury: An Extraordinary Case of Survival in Early Neolithic Siberia

“…Untreated meningitis, for example, can be fatal within only a few days (Schutkowski et al ., ). Of the eight documented cases of PSI that we identified in the archaeological literature (Buckley, ; Diego Cuscoy, ; Manchester and Elmhirst, ; Patrick, ; Silva and Marques, ; Schutkowski et al ., ; Vegas et al ., ; Wells, ), all were perimortem wounds, occurring at or around the time of death. Most would have resulted in near instantaneous death.…”