Sharp Force Trauma Death in a Young Individual From Medieval Gloucester

Abstract

The authors of the present work evaluate the trauma observed on the skeletal remains of an individual from medieval Gloucester and reconstruct the events that led to his death. The almost complete skeleton was recovered from the cemetery of St Owen and dates to the late medieval period. Several methods were employed to determine the sex and age of the individual. The anthropological examination showed that the remains belonged to a young male, between the ages of 17 and 19 years. The young man also had antemortem pathologies that were related to his diet and lifestyle, as he appears to have suffered from iron-deficiency anaemia and Schmorl's nodes. The trauma observed on the remains consisted of three cut marks located on the cranium, left radius and right scapula. The cuts seem to have been inflicted by a heavy weapon, such as a sword. The trauma pattern observed is consistent with defensive action and the fact that this skeleton was the only one in the collection that has evidence of trauma suggest that this was a case of interpersonal violence.

Death in the high mountains: Evidence of interpersonal violence during Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age at Roc de les Orenetes (Eastern Pyrenees, Spain)

“…The chop marks produced by metal weapons are characterized by clean cuts with a V-shaped crosssection, smooth walls, with the lifting of a bone flake following the direction of the blow, and without great damage or fracturing of the surrounding bone tissue (SI, Figure S5). These SFT have been widely documented in the archeological record to permit comparison with those found in the osteological assemblage from Roc de les Orenetes (Brinker et al, 2016;Cohen et al, 2015;Dittmar et al, 2019;Fernández-Crespo et al, 2020;Forsom et al, 2017;Jiménez-Brobeil et al, 2014;Jordana et al, 2009;Nicklisch et al, 2022;Tumler et al, 2019;Valoriani et al, 2017;Zeppilli et al, 2023).…”

Blunt weapons in the roman imperial army. A multidisciplinary approach to the clava from experimental archaeology to forensic anthropology

“…The wounding power of ancient weapons can be easily studied when the victims are available, whether they are notorious (Borrini, 2013) or anonymous (Brinker et al, 2018;Jantzen et al, 2011;Valoriani et al, 2017). Nonetheless, the effectiveness of armaments can also be reconstructed in the absence of human remains with a forensic anthropological approach to historical sources (Borrini et al, 2011;Borrini et al, 2012).…”