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With Sword and Mace? Searching for Blunt Force Trauma from the Cranial Material of the Battle of Good Friday

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With Sword and Mace? Searching for Blunt Force Trauma from the Cranial Material of the Battle of Good Friday With sword and mace? Searching for blunt force trauma from the cranial material of the Battle of Good Friday Anniina Laine Master’s thesis Masterkurs i osteoarkeologi, 30 hp Supervisor: Anna Kjellström Co-supervisor: Astrid Noterman Stockholm University 2020 Abstract The crania from a mass grave associated to the Battle of Good Friday (1520) in Uppsala were re-examined in this study. The total skeletal material has been analysed before, but blunt force trauma was excluded and therefore a comprehensive trauma pattern could not be presented. In the current study, the perimortem cranial weapon-related trauma was examined by reconstructing the crania and conducting a trauma analysis. Standardised methods were used to identify and document blunt, sharp and puncture trauma. The results reveal that new blunt and sharp force trauma as well as one puncture trauma could be identified. Furthermore, the majority of weapon-related trauma were identified as sharp injuries, less than ten percent as blunt injuries and a few as puncture injuries. The cranial trauma pattern is interpreted to reflect the battle tactics, the situations in the battle, as well as the armour and weapons used by the soldiers. The notion of sharp force injuries forming the majority of trauma could imply that bladed weapons were used the most and blunt weapons were used less or caused less injuries visible on bone. The dominance of cranial trauma might indicate that head was a primary target. The trauma pattern implies that blunt weapons were used at least in face-to-face combat and bladed weapons were used in a variety of situations from face-to-face fight to more chaotic situations and against fleeing soldiers. Most of the new documented injuries were observable or easier to observe during or after the cranial reconstruction, indicating that reconstructing the crania is important for observing and identifying the maximal number of injuries possible. Abstrakt Kranier från en massgrav kopplad till Långfredagsslaget 1520 i Uppsala har analyserats. Hela skelettmaterialet har undersökts tidigare, men trubbig våld fick uteslutas och en komplett bild av traumamönster har tidigare inte presenterats. I denna studie undersöktes spår efter perimortalt vapenrelaterad våld via rekonstruktioner av kranierna och efterföljande trauma-analyser. Standardiserade metoder användes för att identifiera och dokumentera spår av skarpt, trubbig och penetrerande våld. Resultaten visar att nya spår av trubbiga och skarpa skador samt en penetrationsskada kunde identifieras. Vidare framkom att majoriteten av vapenrelaterade skador var skarpa, mindre än en tiondedel var trubbiga och få var penetrerande. Skademönstren hos kranierna tolkas reflektera stridstekniker och situationen i slaget, samt möjlig utrustning och vapen som användes i slaget. Att majoriteten av skador är skarpa kan tyda på att blankvapen var de mest använda och att krossvapen användes mindre, eller orsakade färre skador som syns på ben. Det stora antalet kraniala skador tyder på att huvud var ett primärt mål för huggen. Skademönstren indikerar att krossvapen användes åtminstone i närstrid och att blankvapen användes i varierande situationer från närstrid till mer kaotiska stridsituationer och mot flyende män. De flesta av nya vapenrelaterade skador kunde observeras eller blev lättare att observeras under eller efter rekonstruktionen av kranier. Detta tyder på att rekonstruera kranier är viktigt för att identifiera det mesta möjliga antal skador. Keywords Uppsala, the Middle Ages, trauma, trauma analysis, reconstruction, cranial material, medieval warfare Acknowledgements I wish to warmly thank my supervisor Anna for suggesting me to study this most interesting material and for all the advice, comments and the wonderful encouragement and support. My co-supervisor Astrid I would like to thank for all the advice, comments and kind words of support. I am grateful for Berit Schütz from Upplandsmuseet for making it possible to study the complete cranial material. I also wish to thank my teachers in OFL for making such an effort to have the thesis work going on as smoothly as possible during these unusual times. Lastly I would like to thank my bone people for all the good times in the midst of our hard work, and my family and spouse for all their support. Picture on the cover: Mobilisation of peasant forces. From Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus by Olaus Magnus (1555) (Syse 2003:15). Contents 1. Introduction 1.1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………... 1 1.2. Background…………………………………………………………………………... 1 1.3. Material………………………………………………………………………………. 4 1.4. Reference material: war-related mass graves in (mostly) medieval Europe…………. 8 1.5. Previous research on conflict-related trauma………………………………………… 10 1.6. Late medieval warfare: weapons, armour and tactics……………………………….. 13 1.6.1. Weapons and armour……………………………………………………….. 13 1.6.2. Battle tactics………………………………………………………….……...16 1.6.3. Wounds…………………………………………………………………….. 18 1.7. Aims………………………………………………………………………………….. 19 2. Methods………………………………………………………………………………………. 20 2.1. Trauma analysis……………………………………………………………………… 20 2.2. Timing the injury: antemortem, perimortem and postmortem………………………. 21 2.3. The biomechanics of cranial fracturing……………………………………………… 23 2.4. Blunt force trauma…………………………………………………………………… 25 2.5. Sharp force trauma…………………………………………………………………… 28 2.6. Gunshot and puncture trauma………………………………………………………... 28 2.7. The limits of interpretation…………………………………………………………... 30 2.8. Reconstructing the crania……………………………………………………………. 31 3. Results………………………………………………………………………………….…….. 33 3.1. Blunt force trauma…………………………………………………………………… 33 3.2. Sharp force trauma…………………………………………………………………… 39 3.3. Puncture trauma……………………………………………………………….…….. 43 3.4. Other observations…………………………………………………………………… 44 4. Discussion…………………………………………………………………………………….. 44 4.1. The material from the Battle of Good Friday………………………………...……… 44 4.2. Cranial and postcranial trauma in the Battle of Good Friday and reference assemblages…………………………………………………………… 46 4.3. Cranial trauma types in the Battle of Good Friday and reference assemblages…..… 48 4.4. The distribution of cranial trauma in the Battle of Good Friday and reference assemblages…………………………………………………………… 50 4.5. Penetration, direction and orientation of cranial trauma………………….……..…… 53 4.6. Concluding thoughts………………………….……………………………………… 54 4.7. Benefits of cranial reconstruction……………………………………………………. 55 5. Conclusions…………………………………………………………………………………… 55 6. Summary……………………………………………………………………………………… 57 References……………………………………………………………………………………….. 58 Appendices Appendix 1. Figures Appendix 2. Photographs of the examined crania Appendix 3. Tables Note The word cranium is used for a skull without a mandible. The large bones of the cranium (frontale, parietale and occipitale) are divided into four sectors, either anterior/posterior-superior/inferior or sinister/dexter-superior/inferior. On the occipitale, inferior is located below the nuchal crest. The temporale is divided into anterior and posterior sectors. Abbreviations: BFT: blunt force trauma, SFT: sharp force trauma, PT: puncture trauma, GSW: gunshot wound UM nr: the current catalogue number Prev. nr: The catalogue number used during the excavations and the analysis in 2002 a: anterior, p: posterior, i:inferior, s: superior si, sin: sinister (left), de, dex: dexter (right), s/d: sinister and dexter, parasagittal n: number no: no associated fractures, nd: not documentable new: documented first during the current study Photographs Photographs are taken by A. Laine if no other person or source is mentioned. 1.Introduction 1.1. Introduction Medieval texts in the form of prose, poems and chronicles describe the action on the battlefield. The chaos of the battles, the injuring and fatal blows and the fallen men left behind are issues covered in these texts (Woosnam-Savage & DeVries 2015). The preserved medieval weapons and armory tell their own part of the story. In some occasions, armour or weapons are found when excavating battlefields or battle-related mass graves, for instance in Visby (Thordeman 1939). Human skeletal materials offers yet another source of information about the battles. The injuries on bones can imply what type of weapons and armour were used and the way the soldiers fought, what tactics they had, if they faced their enemies or perhaps attempted to escape. This study presents a re-examination of the crania from the skeletal material found in a late Medieval mass grave related to the Battle of Good Friday (1520) in Uppsala. The injuries and what they can reveal about the weapons, armour and situation of the battle are discussed. 1.2. Background In May 2001, human skeletal remains from several individuals were found during the broadening work of a gravel road on the east side of Slottsbacken in Uppsala (see fig. 1.1 & 1.2). At an early stage, signs of trauma were detected on some of the bones. Radiocarbon samples resulted in datings between 1440-1650 AD (cal. with 95% probability, Ua- 17998). The result eliminated all known epidemics related to late medieval Uppsala, but could be associated with the Battle of Good Friday in 1520. The rescue excavations at the site took place in August 2001 (Kjellström 2003:95; Syse 2003:18). Uppsala is located in the East Figure 1.1. The location of Uppsala marked with red dot and underlining. Map: Hitta.se and online.seterra.com. Edited by A. Middle Sweden, some 70 Laine and J. Ahlamo. kilometres north of Stockholm 1 (fig. 1.1). Uppsala, earlier Östra Aros (Eastern
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