East Kirk of St Nicholas dig April 2007
East Kirk of St Nicholas dig – April 2007
Paul Duffy, human remains specialist, writes…
Since I last wrote, our human remains analysis lab has become a bit like an episode of archaeological ‘Casualty’ (although the patients don’t grumble as much), with several instances of traumatic injury identified on the individuals analysed over the past month or so. The examples range from the routine to the unusual but each injury has its own story to tell about life in medieval Aberdeen.
By far the most common traumatic injuries we identify in skeletal studies are fractures – the broken bones of everyday life that I’m sure many of you will have had the misfortune to suffer at one point or another. Some, like this example below, have healed well, leaving only a small bony sleeve or ‘callous’ around the site of the injury for us to identify. The callous can clearly be seen towards the left end of the bone as a small bump, and acts as a protection for the healing bone underneath It is, in fact, our bodies’ very own natural plaster cast, although a bit more tricky to sign!
Fractures such as this are not unusual, but the well healed nature gives us an indication that, for this individual at least, some medical care was available to ensure that the fracture was properly aligned before it healed. Other individuals in the assemblage were not so fortunate. One older man suffered a disruptive break of his left radius (lower arm) which appears not to have been set at all.
The bone has healed, indicating that the individual survived the perils of infection that such an injury would bring, but the bone has twisted and healed at an unusual angle.
The body has also produced more bone in response to the injury, to strengthen areas of weakness and damage, which has resulted in the usually separate lower arm bones becoming fused in two different places. Such an injury would certainly have affected the flexibility of the arm, and severely restricted movement. The man would thus have been left with a physical impairment distinctly noticeable to those who lived and worked around him.
A similar misaligned healed fracture was also noted on the lower leg of an adult of unknown sex and age, this time in the tibia (lower leg).
Again the healing indicates the individual survived long enough for the bone to knit together. Irregular bony changes on the shaft of the bone also suggest that the individual was strong enough to fight off a subsequent infection, which we can tell from irregular bony growths visible on the bone below. Again, however, the trauma would have left the individual with a permanent physical impairment which in all likelihood would have affected both stance and gait whilst walking.
Less fortunate individuals have also been identified. The picture below is the upper left leg of a young man in his early 30’s who was found to have sustained a severe unhealed sharp force trauma injury visible as a linear ‘chop’ mark on the bone shown below.
The wound, inflicted by a sharp edged blade, sliced through the lower mid portion of the bone, severing muscle, tendons, nerves and blood vessels, and undoubtedly resulted in shock and severe bleeding. In addition, the force of the blow also shattered the lower portion of the femur, further enhancing the severity of the injury.
Although we cannot firmly attribute this as a ‘cause of death’ it is probable that the individual would not have survived the subsequent shock and blood loss. Interestingly our own preliminary CSI style reconstructions indicate that the individual may have been struck from behind with his leg outstretched, perhaps whilst in the process of running.
We will be looking further at this individual, and examining the injury in more detail, as well as hopefully attempting to date more closely when he died.
Similar examples of interpersonal violence have also come from the disarticulated material. Two skulls in particular have caught our attention. The first, shown below, is an adult male, who has suffered a blow with a sharp bladed instrument to the right side of the head.
The blade has penetrated into the bone, and caused a secondary fracture to the back of the skull. A little further to the right, you can see where the blade has sliced into the cheek and removed a small piece of the cheekbone. As with the injury above, there is no sign of healing on the bone, suggesting that the individual died shortly after the blow was inflicted.
The second skull is shown below. It too shows evidence of sharp force trauma, this time in two separate places. The first injury is a glancing blow to the back of the skull which has removed a large ‘disk’ of bone.
The angle of the blow suggests it was also delivered from behind, possibly as the result of a backhanded swipe by a right handed sword wielder. The second injury is to the top of the skull. Here the blow has come from directly above, and penetrated the outer layer of bone in the cranial vault - literally, a ‘skull-splitting’ blow.
Although it is unlikely we will ever be able to relate such injuries to specific historical events, such as the 1411 Battle of ‘Reid’ Harlaw, radiocarbon dating of these individuals should allow us to attribute their lives to a relatively specific time period and allow us to investigate further the circumstances surrounding their injuries.
Examining traumatic injury such as these examples allows us to understand much about the past parishioners of the Church of St Nicholas, and the impact that injury and accident had on their lives. Although we are removed from that society by centuries, such injuries are also a vivid example of how the physical effects of injury and impairment suffered by individuals then, and now, are not very different at all. What has changed in the intervening time is context, circumstances and treatments.
For further information and comment, please contact judiths@aberdeencity.gov.uk
East Kirk of St Nicholas March 2007
