“Gueule cassée” (facial injuries): a 3D paleotraumatology study and facial approximation of a Napoleonic soldier who died in 1812 at Königsberg during the Russian Campaign

Abstract

The invasion of Russia by the Napoleonic Grande Armée was a complete disaster. The French army was decimated during the retreat from Russia. Thousands of victims were buried in mass graves located near several cities during the retreat. One of these mass graves was discovered in in the centre of Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg), presently the most occidental oblast of the Russian Federation. Some skeletons revealed evidence of violence related traumatic injuries. Among them, the skeleton C2 belonged to a young male, who had suffered a serious injury to the lower face. The state of post‐traumatic remodelling indicated survival of about 2 months (between more than 6 weeks and less than 3 months). The 3D reconstruction of the mandible and the maxilla contributed additional information about the injury, its cause, and treatment. This permitted pretraumatic reconstruction of the viscerocranium and mandible through the application of two new techniques: virtual osteotomy and virtual bone transplant from another individual and perform an approximation of the face (to recreate the soft tissues) of this unidentified soldier using anthropological facial approximation in three dimensions software. These results highlight the use of 3D methods in paleopathology and forensic anthropology to reconstruct traumatic facial injuries and the pretraumatic facial appearance.

Age and sex dependent differences in midline facial soft tissue thicknesses measured on MRI scans of Northwest Indian subjects: a forensic anthropological study

“…The knowledge of facial soft tissue thickness can also be useful for accurate portraying of the historically significant figures or d remodelling the archaeological samples for the purpose of facial approximation of the such unidentified individuals (Lee and Shin 2020; . Facial soft tissue thickness data along with virtual anthropology tools can help locate the missing data for approximation and the process of human facial recognition (Guyomarc'h et al 2018;Coutinho-Nogueira et al 2019;de Moraes et al 2022). The knowledge of facial soft tissue thickness is not only useful for developing facial recognition systems but it is also useful for locating in-depth penetration of malignant or non-malignant facial tumors, non-ablative dermal laser therapy, and establishment of dento-facial physiognomies.…”

Riding for a fall: Bone fractures among mounted archers from the Hungarian Conquest period (10th century CE)

“…Many limitations must, however, be acknowledged, such as the multifactorial etiology and lack of specificity of the markers, problems of equivalence between contemporary references and historical cases, or the relevance of the various scoring methods (e.g., Dutour, 1992;Jurmain et al, 2012). Besides those research areas, and even though they are more anecdotal by nature, traumatic injuries can also be of particular interest in the study of past populations as they mostly result from conflicts or natural accidents, thus providing insights into the environment in which evolved the individuals as well as their activities and behaviors (e.g., Buzon & Richman, 2007;Coqueugniot et al, 2014;Coutinho Nogueira et al, 2019;de la Cova, 2012;Henderson, 2009;Jurmain, 1999;Knüsel & Smith, 2014;Krakowka, 2017;Larsen, 1997;Martin, 1997;Martin & Harrod, 2015;Milner et al, 1991;Paine et al, 2007;P alfi, 1992;Scaffidi & Tung, 2020;Standen et al, 2020;Stirland, 1996;Torres-Rouff & Costa Junqueira, 2006;Tung, 2007;Williamson et al, 2003). Among all specific activities that have been investigated by bioarchaeologists, horse riding practice, in particular, is of major importance as it brought profound and lasting changes in the history of human cultural evolution concerning crucial aspects such as trade, settlement, warfare, subsistence, social organization, and political ideology (Anthony, 2007;Anthony & Brown, 1991).…”