Warfare related trauma at Orendorf, a middle Mississippian site in west‐central Illinois

Abstract

Skeletal evidence of nonritual interpersonal trauma in the central Illinois valley is currently limited to the terminal prehistoric period in the region. Sixteen percent of the entire Norris Farms Oneota skeletal sample died violently, presumably because they intruded upon small groups of Mississippians who had not yet abandoned the region. Archaeological evidence of palisades, however, suggests that the region was embroiled in conflict before the Oneota arrived though the skeletal evidence supporting more than ritualized or geographically sporadic cases of scalping or embedded projectiles has been elusive. This study examines the frequency and nature of interpersonal trauma at Orendorf, a Middle Mississippian (AD 1150-1250) site at the northern periphery of the region. Nine percent (N = 25) of all 268 individuals documented at Orendorf suffered warfare-related trauma, including 13 cases of scalping, six instances of decapitation, five individuals with healed cranial blunt force trauma, three projectile point impacts, and eight cases of projectile injuries inferred by the burial context. All of the traumatized individuals were at or above the age of 15 years and males and females were victimized equally. The trauma rate among adults is 16%, which is less than that of the Norris Farms Oneota (34%) but higher than other Mississippian groups in the Southeast. The nature of the injuries is more consistent with attacks by outsiders than codified or ritualized intragroup violence.

Biocultural interpretations of trauma in two prehistoric Pacific Island populations from Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands

“…There is a rising body of literature on disease, climate, resource stress, and trauma arising from conflict in fragile island environments (Lambert, 1997;Field, 2004;Torres-Rouff and Junqueira, 2006;Owens, 2007;Lape and Chin-Yung, 2008;Steadman, 2008). Given the high prevalence of infectious disease at Taumako (Buckley, 2001) these factors may explain some of the trauma observed.…”

“…Milner, 1995;Jurmain, 2001;Mitchell et al, 2006;Steadman, 2008) where the use of shields leaves the head and limbs exposed to injury. The use of shields has been recorded in the Solomon Islands since the contact period (Luxton, 1956;Fingleton, 1987).…”

“…Two additional bone points were excavated from the burial mound at Taumako. Neither was associated with a burial (Buckley, 2000;Leach and Davidson, 2008) although this may be due to the tendency of arrows to fall out of bone when the bone is lifted or disturbed during, or prior to excavation (Steadman, 2008). It is also possible they were included as grave goods (Steadman, 2008) or were embedded in soft tissues and became disassociated with the remains after decomposition (Zimmerman, 1997;Mitchell et al, 2006).…”

The harsh life on the 15th century Croatia‐Ottoman Empire military border: Analyzing and identifying the reasons for the massacre in Čepin

“…The series derive from archaeological sites that encompass the time period from the 6th to 17th centuries with the majority of the sites covering the time span from the 14th to 17th century. The skeletal series are from Croatia (Mikić, 1983;Š laus 2000, 2008Š laus et al, 2002Novak et al, 2007), Serbia (Ž ivanović, 1985, 1986, 1987Vlak, 2006), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (Pilarić, 1969). The large number of skeletons analyzed in these series (n 5 2,123) suggests that the analyzed sites accurately depict the risk of acquiring perimortem trauma during the medieval/ historic time periods in the Balkans.…”

Perimortem trauma in King Richard III: a skeletal analysis

“…Additionally, the cut marks are usually to the front of or around the skull. 18,19 Roughly over the sagittal suture, 65 mm behind the bregma, we identifi ed a depressed injury (9 mm × 10 mm) with a keyhole shape (fi gure 3d). The posterior portion was square in outline, but the anterior portion showed bevelling to the outer table.…”