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War Trauma |
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“Man’s inhumanity to man as manifested by wounds of the head is a heritage of the past” – C.B. Courville |
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Violence is part of the
human condition. It is something that all humans are capable of, but is a
part of life we try to deny. Violence has been around as long as humans have
and we know this because of the evidence in the archaeological record. When
there are no survivors, no official documents, no reports of war, all that is
left are the material remains of the violence left behind by the people that
were involved. Violence can occur on several different levels. It can happen in a more personal setting such as domestic violence and it can escalate into full blown wars that involve massive amounts of death. With war and interpersonal violence also comes specific injury and bone trauma that can be seen in the archaeological context. Skeletal injuries provide clear evidence of conflict between societies. The major aspects of violence and injury in the paleopathological record are that of weapons wounds, such as arrows and spears; ritualistic and sacrificial killings; and mutilation, primarily scalping and to a lesser degree, cannibalism. Weapons
Wounds As man has evolved, so too have the type of weapons used in violence. From the ‘‘caveman’s club’’ to the arrow of the hunter-gatherer to the bullet of modern day man. They all however, cause the same 2 types of trauma: blunt force trauma and sharp force trauma. The weapons categorized
under blunt trauma can be relatively small such as a rock or a diggings
stick. These smaller weapons will usually cause a depressed fracture
that is seen as a ‘dimple’ in the fracture pattern of the bone. More narrow
weapons will cause a linear crack and larger weapons such as a club will
usually completely crush a bone like an eggshell. Arrows and spears most certainly fall under the sharp force category along with knives, swords, axes and even bullets. These weapons will produce a penetrating injury, cutting through the soft tissue and damaging the underlying bone. They will cause a sharp cut in the bone that is evident when recovering skeletal remains. However, bone trauma produced by such weapons may only be determined with certainty when the projectile is found with the remains, as animals and archaeological tools such as shovels can cause similar fracture patterns. Sharp force injuries are especially important to uncovering evidence of violence since they are the least likely to be receive accidentally. Scalping-Mutilation-Cannibalism -Scalping- Scalping can actually
be considered under the sharp force trauma category because the procedure
involves the use of a knife or an axe; however this violent technique
deserves further examination due to its great cultural significance to
warfare. By definition, scalping is the forcible removal of all or part of the scalp from the cranium. It is generally believed to be a practice of the Indians of North America, but it has been described by Herodotus as also being a practice of the Scythians and the ancient Germans until at least 870A.D. Scalping original
intent was to release the soul from the victim. It then evolved into a way for
men to prove their bravery. The collection of human heads was considered a
triumph for a group over their rival. Collecting scalps was also encouraged
by the French, British, and other colonial governments by giving out bounties
for each In the archaeological context, the skulls found with evidence of scalping will display short, straight cut marks on the frontal and parietal bones. Scalping almost certainly resulted in death as it deprived the skull of needed periosteal blood. There is however, evidence of survival in the archaeological record; these skulls will contain pitting and new bone formation, but it is rare. -Mutilation- When we think of the term mutilation we are reminded of a gruesome event that involves the suffering of a victim. Though this may be true in the cases of punishment against criminals and prisoners of war, there are times when mutilation is entirely voluntary. Mutilation has been a custom of some cultures throughout time. Documentation of mutilation has been found in cave art in Gargas, Spain dating back as far as 20,000 B.P. American Indians have been known cut off fingers as an initiation rite. Cutting off of the fingers is also used as a sign of mourning in many Old World countries. Still, the majority of mutilation in the archaeological record stems from ancient warfare as it was used to mistreat prisoners from other societies. However, identifying mutilation can be tricky and should never be diagnosed as an unequivocal interpretation of what may have happened. For example, in the case of missing fingers and toes, infectious disease and frostbite can be the cause. Also, mutilation of the forearm or leg can often be confused with the manifestation of pseudoarthrosis. -Cannibalism- A puzzling question that arises when remains of an ancient battle are uncovered is: Are the bones that are missing due to cannibalism? Cannibalism, or anthropophagy, is the custom of using the human body for food and ethnologists believe the word was derived from the Spanish who described a tribe in the West Indies who practiced it. Without soft tissue left in the human remains, the paleopathologist cannot definitely say weather or not cannibalism occurred in any society. Evidence of forcible breaking of the skull or long bones for the purpose of eating doesn’t even exist. What is actually found
are post-mortem fractures without signs of healing. Bones that are suspected of having been used for cannibalism tend to display sharp, uneven and irregular cuts. The fractures normally involved are of the long bones for marrow and at the base of the skull, by the foramen magnum, for consumption of the brain. |
