engleski

Perimortem trauma from the fifteenth-century Battle on Krbava field in Croatia

On September 9th 1493 a large Croatian army intercepted a Turkish raiding party on the field of Krbava in south Croatia. The Turks were returning to Bosnia with plunder and prisoners captured in northern Croatia and Slovenia. The ensuing battle ended in a crushing defeat for the Croats who suffered losses of between 3500– 13000 men. Recent archaeological excavations carried out on the site of the medieval (12th– 16th cent.) Krbava cathedral, located 300 m. south of the battlefield, revealed a large number of graves and commingled bones, some of which exhibited multiple perimortem trauma. This report focuses on 10 well preserved skeletons with perimortem trauma recovered from graves unambiguously dated to the 15th century. This assemblage is broadly similar to other European historic battle sites such as Towton, Uppsala, Aljubarrota and Visby with one major difference – those battles were fought between various European cultures while this one was fought between Turkish light cavalry troops and Croatian infantry troops. All of the analyzed individuals were young adult males. A total of 55 perimortem injuries were recorded: 6 on the cranium, and 49 on the postcranium. 53 injuries were inflicted with sharp bladed weapons, while 2 were the result of blunt force trauma. The majority of injuries (42/55 ; 76%) were located on the posterior side of the skeleton, with no side preference. The assemblage is characterized by a high frequency (22/55 ; 40%) of injuries to the cervical spine.

perimortem trauma; fifteenth century; battle; Krbava field

nije evidentirano