Figure 2
From: A massacre of early Neolithic farmers in the high Pyrenees at Els Trocs, Spain
Four cases of fatal arrow-shot injuries from Els Trocs cave site. (A1) Fragment of the left parietal bone of individual CET-10, external view. The triangular lesion was produced by localized blunt force non-penetrating trauma (arrow shot) impacting the surface at high speed. (A2) Internal aspect of A1. The impact reached the internal lamina and lead to the splintering of a fragment, producing a funnel-shaped defect crater. (A3) Detail of the ca. 24 mm long funnel-shaped defect; the detached fragment is missing. (A4) Micro-CT image of the lesion in the parietal bone of CET-10 with the section plane running through the lesion. It shows the external depression and internal protrusion of bone fragments resulting from the impact of the arrow. (B1) Fragment of the right parietal bone of individual CET-13, external view. Visible are the fracture lines of the external protrusion with splintering. (B2) Internal aspect of B1. The slit-like cut at the internal point of impact causing the external protrusion. (B3) Detail of the slit-shaped defect due to blunt force trauma. The flint arrowhead penetrated the left side of the skull, traversed the brain and obliquely lodged in the parietal bone opposite the point of penetration. (B4) Micro-CT image of the area of the flint arrow defect of CET-13, showing a continuous, deep defect with protrusion of the external lamina. (C) Example 1 of an isolated roundish fragment (dislodged funnel-shaped cranial bone fragment, ID 22580) dislocated by the impact of an arrow shot from a parietal bone in external (C1) and internal (C2) view. (D) Example 2 of a defect funnel fragment (dislodged funnel-shaped cranial bone fragment) dislocated from a parietal bone (ID 22567) in external (D1) and internal (D2) view. Both fragments closely resemble the defect crater in CET-10 (A2 and 3), tapering from the internal lamina to the diploe, but only one fragment (D1) contains portions of the external lamina. ID number = isolated bone; CET-number = skull (photos: T. Schuerch; micro-CT images: G. Schulz using a Phoenix nanotome®m).
