Brief encounters: Tatham Mound and the evidence for Spanish and Native American confrontation

Skeletal trauma often has been utilized to examine facets of inter- and intragroup violence. Eighteen skeletal elements from Tatham Mound are considered in this study, which exhibit wounds similar to documented cases of trauma caused by edged metal weapons. Tatham Mound is a sixteenth century mortuary site in central Gulf Coast Florida and is located within the reconstructed zone of contact with the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. Macroscopic and microscopic analyses of skeletal elements are conducted in order to distinguish trauma due to edged metal weapons from other perimortem and post-mortem bone modification. The damage on elements from Tatham Mound is compared with documented cases of trauma from edged metal weapons as well as medieval European skeletal remains exhibiting trauma due to edged metal weapons. It is concluded that some of the observed cases are probably due to metal weapon wounds inflicted by the Spanish explorers.     

Weapon‐related Cranial Lesions from Medieval and Renaissance Turin,Italy

Archaeological excavations carried out in the square around the Cathedral of S. Giovanni in Turin brought to light burials referable to the medieval and Renaissance periods. The anthropological examination of the skeletal remains allowed to identify two skeletons from the medieval period (10th–11th centuries) and four skeletons from the Renaissance age (15th century) showing weapon‐related cranial injuries. These peri mortem lesions are indicators of interpersonal aggression and in particular of armed conflicts. The two individuals from the early medieval period presented three traumas consisting in sharp force lesions caused by bladed weapons. As regards the Renaissance sample, the majority of the nine peri mortem injuries were sharp force wounds, followed by a blunt force trauma. These distribution patterns might reflect different fighting techniques, whereas the side distribution and location of the skull trauma provide further indications on the fighting modalities. Identification of the weapons that caused these traumas is suggested. The lack of post‐cranial wounds at Piazza S. Giovanni might be explained by the greater attention paid to the head, which was the main target of attack, or by adequate protection of the body through medieval and Renaissance armours. Otherwise, the wounds in the body would have been found only in the soft tissues, with no involvement of the bones. Despite the presence of weapon injuries, the results obtained from the study of the Renaissance sample are different from the findings of other contemporary battlefields. It is highly likely that the individuals of the Renaissance age were not young soldiers employed in war episodes and brought back for burial in Turin after battles that had taken place elsewhere. Instead, they were probably individuals who had died in riots or in other violent city episodes, as the historical records for the Renaissance age seem to confirm. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cranial traumatic injuries caused by weapons in Tokugawa Japan

Weapon‐related traumas on human skeletons provide us with direct evidence of violence in archaeological and forensic contexts. The purposes of this study are to describe the weapon‐related traumas on Edo‐period (AD 17th–19th centuries) human skeletons from the Hitotsubashi site (Tokyo, Japan), to examine their presence, distribution and variability, and finally to better understand violence during that period. The specimens observed here are two adult males exhibiting eight traumas: five sharp‐force traumas caused by edged blades (62.5%) and three blunt‐force traumas with radiating fractures (37.5%). The frequency of individuals with traumas is 1.0% out of 207 individuals and 3.3% out of 64 adult males. The traumas found on the Hitotsubashi crania are distinguishable from those on the medieval crania in terms of low traumatic frequency. These observations shed new light on the life and death situations of the Edo inhabitants from osteoarchaeological perspectives. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Consequences of conquest? The analysis and interpretation of subadult trauma at Puruchuco-Huaquerones, Peru

This paper examines bioarchaeological evidence of violence and traumatic injury on subadult skeletal remains from two Late Horizon (A.D. 1470-1540) cemeteries within the archaeological zone of Puruchuco-Huaquerones, Peru. Here we present the frequency and types of traumatic lesions on the 242 subadults analyzed. We observed significant increases in the frequency of subadult trauma, particularly among the burials associated with Spanish Conquest. Specifically, we noted a statistically significant increase in the frequency of cranial trauma in a subsample of individuals from one of two cemeteries at the site, 57AS03. These perimortem cranial injuries suggest an intensification of violence and lethality that may have affected the children from this community. We then discuss the biocultural implications of this analysis within the context of Spanish invasion and conquest.     

Patterns of Interpersonal Violence at the Fisher Site

Abstract

Recent reanalysis of crania from the Late Prehistoric Fisher site in Will County, Illinois indicates relatively high levels of interpersonal violence. In the Big East and Big West mounds, cranial trauma was likely a result of repeated, low-level harassment of the villagers, resulting in the death of only a few people at a time. Numerous burials in the south-southwest mound, however, were interred in a large pit that reportedly contained at least 40 partially disarticulated individuals. Of those individuals from the mass burial pit, nearly all of the crania available for study showed evidence of perimortem trauma. These victims were likely the result of a large-scale attack that resulted in numerous deaths and subsequent abandonment of the site. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) of radiocarbon dates indicate that this violence was occurring between about A.D. 1225 and 1300, a period that seems to have been a particularly volatile one in Late Prehistoric Illinois.     

Archaeological Explorations of Cultural Identity and Rural Economy in the North of Ireland: Goodland,County Antrim

Renewed examination of an enigmatic settlement site perched atop a cliff above Murlough Bay in Goodland Townland, County Antrim, Northern Ireland calls into question long held ideas about Gaelic rural economy on the eve of the Ulster Plantation by reintroducing the complex cultural and political relationships between the north of Ireland and the Scottish isles. Long interpreted as temporary post-medieval booley huts associated with seasonal transhumance, recent re-evaluation of the site suggests instead that Goodland represents a permanent seventeenth-century Highland Scottish village. Although the medieval linkages between the north of Ireland and the Scottish isles have long been acknowledged, twentieth-century sectarianism has subjugated awareness of the Highland (Roman Catholic) Scots focusing upon the legacy of the in-migration of Protestant Lowland Scots during the Ulster Plantation. Material evidence at Goodland re-introduces the Highland Scot to the contested landscape of contemporary Ulster identity, while also facilitating analysis of continuity, change, and cultural complexity in the rural economy of early modern Ireland.     

Elder Abuse: Evaluating the Potentials and Problems of Diagnosis in the Archaeological Record

The elderly are the most neglected demographic in archaeology. In today's youth‐obsessed society, the elderly are consistently denigrated, particularly those perceived to be physically or mentally frail. A related and growing concern in contemporary populations is the physical abuse of the elderly, believed to be an escalating phenomenon. This study is the first to examine the risk factors, social context and patterns of trauma associated with elder abuse in the present, with the aim of providing diagnostic criteria to apply to past societies. The utility of skeletal evidence in the identification of violent trauma has been detailed in cases of child and intimate partner abuse, both modern and archaeological. Investigating the skeletal evidence for elder abuse is potentially more complex because of the confounding physiological effects of the ageing process, lack of clinical research and contemporary ageist attitudes towards older people. Within the clinical and bioarchaeological literature, there has been a tendency to dismiss injuries in older individuals as the product of accident or opportunistic violence. A proportion of elder members of past societies is likely to have been victims of abuse and family violence. While there are no pathognomonic skeletal features of elder abuse, multiple injuries to the bones of the following are indicative: cranium, maxilla‐facial region, dentition, cervical vertebrae, clavicles, ribs and spiral fractures to the humeri. Attention is also drawn to decubiti as indirect skeletal indicators of immobility and possibly neglect. Archaeological context is important to consider, including non‐normative burials or those indicating social marginalisation. Bioarchaeological evidence has the potential to provide a long‐term perspective on the care and treatment of past elders. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ancient injury recidivism: an example from the Kerma period of ancient Nubia

A topical trend in clinical research has been the study of repeat trauma, referred to by clinicians as “injury recidivism,” which lends itself to the assessment of accumulated injuries among ancient people. The present investigation examined the healed injuries among two archaeological skeletal samples from the Kerma period (ca. 2500–1500 BC) of Sudanese Nubia. Both groups were known to have a high prevalence of multiple trauma—80% of 54 adults from the rural sites (O16 and P37) located near Dongola and 42% of 212 adults from the urban site of Kerma sustained nonfatal injuries. It was observed that a higher frequency of multi‐injured adults displayed one or more violence‐associated injury (cranial trauma, parry fracture). When all injuries were considered 38% of individuals with violence‐related injuries had other traumatic lesions in contrast to 22% of individuals who experienced injuries associated with accidental falls (e.g., Colles', Smiths', Galeazzi, and paired forearm fractures), although this difference was not significant. When only the skulls and long bones were evaluated 81% of adults with multiple injuries to these major bones bore one or more violence‐related injuries, while 60% of adults with single injuries sustained violence‐related injuries. Most individuals with multiple injuries were male and less than 35 years of age; there was no significant difference in the frequency of violence‐ or accident‐related multiple injury between the rural and urban communities. Although it cannot be established whether or not some of an individual's injuries were experienced during simultaneous or independent incidents, the pattern of multiple injury among these two ancient Nubian skeletal samples reflected the profile of injury recidivism observed by modern clinicians cross‐culturally. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Temporal trends in violence during the Mississippian period in the Middle Cumberland Region of Tennessee

This study utilizes a biocultural approach to investigate skeletal evidence for violence among Mississippian communities in the Middle Cumberland Region (MCR) of Tennessee. Bioarchaeological evidence for violence is placed within the local environmental and cultural context in order to better understand temporal trends in regional conflict. Bioarchaeological analyses were conducted on the crania of 599 adult individuals from 13 sites in the MCR. Approximately 7.2 percent of the sample (43/599) showed evidence of violent cranial injuries in the form of scalping, sharp force trauma, and blunt force trauma. While overall trauma frequencies appear to increase during the later Mississippian period, this may reflect a shift in the nature of violence, rather than simply an intensification of intergroup conflict. More fine-grained temporal comparisons are made for samples from the late Mississippian Averbuch site. The variability in the frequencies and types of violence observed within the MCR demonstrates the issues inherent in the reliance on broad generalizations about human behavior in the past and highlights the importance of utilizing both a regional and diachronic approach.     

Did Children in Medieval and Post‐medieval Poland Suffer from Scurvy? Examination of the Skeletal Evidence

Late‐medieval and post‐medieval writings report that scurvy was a widespread condition in medieval and early historical Poland. Archaeological and historical data indicate that the diet of children was based on foods poor in vitamin C and contained small amounts of raw plant products. Also, historians emphasise that in medieval and post‐medieval Poland, there were seasonal fluctuations in food availability, frequently accompanied by poor harvests. Both resulted in long periods of poor nutrition, which affected children most severely. The aim of this study was to investigate skeletal manifestations of scurvy in subadult remains from medieval and post‐medieval Poland. Following standards described by Ortner and colleagues, anatomical sites pathognomonic of scurvy in subadults (<17 years) were assessed for abnormal porosity and hypertrophic bone among skeletons excavated from three sites: Ostrów Lednicki (dated to the 11th–14th centuries AD), Cedynia (10th–14th centuries AD) and Słaboszewo (14th–17th centuries AD). In total, 3.6% of all examined children were found to bear traces of vitamin C deficiency. The prevalence of scorbutic lesions was 4.5% for Cedynia, 2.6% for Ostrów Lednicki and 3.6% for Słaboszewo. The majority of affected children were less than 7 years of age. Scurvy was likely more widespread in the living populations than it appears from the calculation of skeletal markers, because some individuals might have recovered or died before obvious traces became apparent. Also, in some children, scurvy might not have reached an advanced stage, identifiable in the skeletal material. The prevalence of scurvy reflects not only dietary patterns but also food storage and preparation techniques adopted in the Polish territories during the Middle Ages, which contributed to low intakes of vitamin C. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Limits to interpretation of skeletal trauma — Two case studies from Medieval Abingdon,England

Two adult male skeletons from the Medieval lay cemetery at Abingdon show multiple trauma to the upper limbs and torso. Although this in itself is not uncommon in this cemetery the two skeletons in question stand out by virtue of the near-identical distribution of their injuries. The skeletons are used as examples to discuss the difficulties facing the palaeopathologist in deciding whether to attribute particular examples of trauma to violence. This is particularly relevant to Abingdon, where at least one major episode of civil conflict is documented historically. It was concluded that although the number of skeletons displaying signs of trauma may show the level of violence and high-risk occupations in a society, skeletal evidence rarely can distinguish between the two in individual cases.     

The warriors of the steppes: osteological evidence of warfare and violence from Pazyryk tumuli in the Mongolian Altai

Skeletal remains of Pazyryk warriors unearthed in a recent archaeological excavation in the Mongolian Altai offer a unique opportunity for verifying ancient histories of warfare and violence given by Herodotus in the fifth century BC. The Pazyryks were Iron Age nomadic groups associated with the eastern Scythians and known from burial site discoveries on the high steppes of the Altai (Central Asia). The aim of this paper is to analyze the evidence for bone trauma provided by the skeletal remains of these Pazyryk warriors with a particular focus on violence-related injuries. The sample consists of 10 individuals, comprising seven adult males, one adult female and two children. Seven individuals exhibited a total of 14 traumatic injuries. Six of these injuries (43%) showed evidence of bone remodelling and eight injuries (57%) were morphologically compatible with a perimortem origin. Twelve injuries (86%) were related to interpersonal violence, most likely caused by weapons similar to those found in Pazyryk tombs (battle-axes, daggers and arrowheads). Five individuals, including the female and one child, exhibited evidence of violent death. Furthermore, one individual also exhibited evidence of scalping. Despite the small number of Pazyryk skeletons analyzed, the pattern of traumatic injuries observed appears to be in agreement with that documented in conflicts related to raids or surprise attacks, and not a result of routinized or ritualized violence. These findings contribute new data to osteological evidence from Scythian burial sites.     

Fracture patterns among the Nubians of Semna South,Sudanese Nubia

A collection of 592 individuals from the site of Semna South in Sudanese Nubia was studied for evidence of healed fractures of the skull and appendicular skeleton. The sample included 241 males, 239 females, 109 subadults and three adults for whom a sex could not be determined. Potential analytical and interpretive bias due to vagaries of preservation was quantified and examined. Almost 21% of the adults exhibited at least one healed fracture, while only two subadults showed such trauma. Rates of fractures, calculated for each bone, varied from a high of 17.9% for the cranium to a low of 0% for the right femur. Some fractures were likely caused by the physical environment, for example, falls along the rocky shores of the Nile. Other trauma, such as craniofacial fractures, found in both males and females, may have been due to interpersonal violence. The high rate of craniofacial trauma may indicate that this group experienced social stress which could have precipitated or intensified interpersonal violence. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A re-assessment of Basketmaker II cave 7: massacre site or cemetery context

Our ongoing investigation of early maize farming in the American Southwest has entailed stable isotope analysis and accelerator radiocarbon dating of Basketmaker II remains from sites in the Four Corners region. Here we report radiocarbon dates on a large mortuary assemblage excavated by Richard Wetherill in 1893 from a burial cave in southeastern Utah. It has long been thought that all individuals interred in Cave 7 were massacred in a single violent attack given embedded projectiles and evidence for blunt force trauma. However, accelerator radiocarbon dates on purified bone collagen (n = 96) do not lend strong support to this argument, even among the subset of individuals with clear evidence for violent injuries. Moreover, nearly 80% of Cave 7 burials examined in the study show no evidence of perimortem trauma and no adult females or subadults under the age of 12 appear to have suffered violent deaths. Rather than an anomalous single-event massacre, the Cave 7 radiocarbon dataset suggests that raiding and intra-group, male/male violence was episodic among Basketmaker groups in southeastern Utah. Population densities were relatively high and individuals interred in Cave 7 and elsewhere in the region were heavily dependent on maize agriculture, a prehistoric economic strategy typically characterized by high amplitude fluctuations in productivity. Variability in the array of grave goods accompanying Cave 7 male burials and elsewhere suggests competitive social differentiation likely heightened during periods of resource shortfall leading to intra-group conflict, raiding and perhaps ritualized acts of violence.     

Warriors from the East. Skeletal evidence of warfare from a Lombard-Avar cemetery in Central Italy (Campochiaro,Molise, 6th–8th Century AD)

The early mediaeval cemetery of Campochiaro is located in Molise (Central Italy) and dates to the 6th–8th centuries AD. It consists of two inhumation areas: one at Morrione and the other at Vicenne. This site is important because of the contemporary presence of locals, Lombards and Avars of the steppes. Campochiaro was probably an outpost against the Byzantine army settled in southern Italy. Since no signs of a stable settlement or built-up area have been found, it seems the cemetery can be attributed to a semi-nomadic group. Many graves contained a man and his horse with the harness complex and typical Avar stirrups. The military nature of this settlement is shown by ostearchaeological evidence of warfare and violence on three skeletal individuals: n. 20, n. 102 and n. 108. Two of them exhibit lesions of the cranial vault probably produced by shock weapons in the fashion of the Byzantine armies: a spiked mace and a battle-axe. The cicatrisation of the wounds and the bony neo-formation suggest that the individuals survived these injuries for a long time. The third individual suffered from leprosy. He shows a long perpendicular cut in the left section of the frontal bone. The wound is clean and, because it is without traces of bony neo-formation, was probably a peri-mortem blow landed with a sharp weapon. The wound was not mortal, because it was very slight and probably produced only a slash. As ritual or magical practises and/or damage produced during the excavation or by the action of roots in the earth can be excluded, this individual was perhaps really a leper warrior who died in combat.     

A possible fatal wounding in the prehistoric Pacific Islands

This paper reports two cases of prehistoric interpersonal violence from Taumako Island, southeast Solomon Islands. The first case is a young child with a bone point found in situ in a lower lumbar vertebra. It is concluded that this child most likely died as the result of the injury. The second case is a male of advanced age with a well‐remodelled depression fracture on the frontal bone of the skull. This individual also has a remodelled penetrating wound to the left iliac crest of the pelvis. Warfare is thought to have been endemic in much of the Solomon Islands before European arrival. However, besides the two cases reported here there is little other evidence of trauma in the Taumako population. The young child is the first case of an in situ weapon reported from the prehistoric Pacific Islands. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A possible massacre at Early Bronze Age Titriş Höyük,Anatolia

Trauma is among the most important sources of data providing information related to systematic violence, battles and massacres among ancient populations. In this study, a mass grave from Titriş Höyük in the Southeast Anatolia was examined in terms of cranial traumas. Skeletal remains of minimum 19 individuals were placed on a plaster basin as a secondary interment. The frequency of cranial trauma was 81.3% among 16 available adult crania. The fact that the perimortem traumas were observed on both sex groups and the presence of two children and an infant on the basin suggest the possibility of these individuals being subjected to an attack or a massacre. It has been determined that the frequency of traumas in the common burials increased more than twofold from Early‐Mid EBA (6.7%) to Late EBA (14.3%). While all of the injuries observed in Early‐Mid EBA were in the form of healed depressed trauma, penetrated traumas were also encountered in Late EBA. The increased frequency of cranial trauma with unusual interment on a plaster basin indicated that a social stress might have taken place in Titriş Höyük. It is concluded that the collapse of the Akkadian Empire, the deterioration of the trade‐based economy and resource stress might have been possible factors that played a role in the excessive violence, or a massacre in Titriş Höyük. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The York 113: osteological analysis of 10 mass graves from Fishergate,York

Abstract

Routine developer-led excavation of land at the site of the Barbican Leisure Centre in York, UK resulted in the discovery of 10 post-medieval mass graves located in and around the foundations of a partially-ruined medieval church. These graves contained a total of 113 skeletons. The skeletal assemblage was notable for the absence of children and infants, comprising only adult and adolescent individuals, with significant male bias. Individuals were slightly shorter than average for the period. Rates of ante-mortem trauma were low, peri-mortem trauma and specific infectious disease were absent, and generally the assemblage exhibited higher than expected prevalence of pathological conditions that may be indicative of increased physical stress. The combined osteological and historical evidence suggests that these graves may represent Parliamentarian casualties of epidemic disease pertaining to the 1644 Siege of York.     

Cranial trauma and treatment: a case study from the medieval cemetery of St. Mary Spital,London

Excavation of the cemetery of the medieval priory of St. Mary‐without‐Bishopsgate, Spitalfields, London from 1998–2001, recovered the remains of over 10,000 individuals. Following initial assessment, skeleton 19893 was found to have suffered three cranial injuries caused by a sharp edged implement. The remains were those of a middle aged adult male of around 172.4 cm in stature, truncated at the hips by a later feature. The remaining elements were well preserved. The cranial injuries were well healed, suggestive of some degree of post‐traumatic care. Evidence of possible surgery was also found. Soft tissue complications would undoubtedly have followed the assault. Battle related trauma was considered, together with evidence of treatment. Whilst the demographic profile of the individual fitted a plausible one for a professional fighter of the medieval period, no firm evidence of occupation could be provided. The case study indicates both the ability of medieval people to survive major trauma and the wealth of information full analysis of the Spitalfields assemblage will provide the osteological community. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social Analysis of Mortuary Evidence in German Protohistoric Archaeology

German early historical archaeology has witnessed since the 1960s an intensive debate on the social analysis of mortuary remains. It started out with the question of archaeological criteria for the inference of social status in early medieval cemeteries. In the 1970s, attention shifted from quantitative to qualitative analyses of grave goods and to the use of data on labor investment and skeletal data. In the last decade or so, younger colleagues have tried to overcome the weaknesses of traditional inferences from grave goods (status, religion, ethnic affiliation) by looking at the implications of ritual, and new methods of analyzing biological kinship have been applied to identify families in prehistoric and early medieval cemeteries. The German debate shows similarities to as well as differences from the Anglophone debate. It is suggested that we may learn from these parallel developments, but we should also learn from the fact that two scholarly debates on the same subject could ignore each other for 3 decades.