Fatal cranial injury in an individual from Messina (Sicily) during the times of the Roman Empire

Abstract

a b s t r a c tForensic and archaeological examinations of human skeletons can provide us with evidence of violence. In this paper, we present the patterns of two cranial lesions found on an adult male (T173) buried in a grave in the necropolis 'Isolato 96', Messina, Sicily, dating back to the Roman Empire (1st century BC -1st century AD). The skull reveals two perimortem traumatic lesions, one produced by a sharp object on the right parietal bone and the other one on the left parietal bone, presumably the result of a fall. The interpretation of fracture patterns found in this cranium are an illustration of how forensic approaches can be applied with great benefit to archaeological specimens.

The Sima de los Huesos Crania: Analysis of the cranial breakage patterns

“…There are also some papers regarding carnivore activity on fossil crania (Arsuaga et al, 2007;Boaz et al, 2004;Sala et al, 2014). In archaeological contexts there are studies of fracture patterns on cranial remains (Berryman and Haun, 1996;Jordana et al, 2009;Kanz and Grossschmidt, 2006;Messina et al, 2013;Miraz on-Lahr et al, 2016;Spencer, 2012;Walker, 1989); nevertheless, there is a lack of specific research addressing fracturation analyses of hominin cranial in particular and flat bones in general in Pleistocene contexts.…”

State of the art forensic techniques reveal evidence of interpersonal violence ca. 30,000 years ago

“…Forensic evidence suggests that this early modern European suffered a violent death caused intentionally by another human. Signs of interpersonal violence with a variety of weapons are very common in antiquity [30,36–38]. Previous work has showed a level of interpersonal aggression among Neanderthals[39,40] and even earlier hominins[41–43], and early Holocene hunter-gatherers[44] (although some of this evidence has been questioned[45]).…”

Wounded to the bone: Digital microscopic analysis of traumas in a medieval mass grave assemblage (Sandbjerget, Denmark, AD 1300–1350)

“…Studies which apply digital microscopy to investigate skeletal traumas in archaeological samples remain relatively rare and the current study represents one of the few that does (Messina et al, 2013;Appleby et al, 2014;Constantinescu et al, 2015). The principal question addressed here was to assess whether digital microscopy can provide valuable information on trauma that may compensate for the limitations of macroscopic observation (Ubelaker and Adams, 1995;Nahkhaeizadeh et al, 2014).…”

“…Offering technical capabilities, such as three-dimensional and depth of field enhancements, the utility of such a tool is a subject of on-going refinements and discussions (Bello et al, 2009). This method has been applied to archaeological examples involving considerable numbers of purported weapon-related injuries (Jantzen et al, 2010;Messina et al, 2013;Appleby et al, 2014;Constantinescu et al, 2015), although its effectiveness remains to be confirmed.…”