engleski

Weapon injuries in Roman Iader

The Roman colony of Iader (contemporary Zadar) was one of the largest urban centres on the eastern Adriatic coast during the Antique period. Necropolis containing over 1500 incineration and inhumation burials, situated in the city district Relja, was excavated in 1989/1990 and 2005/2006. Human skeletal remains analysed in this paper were buried in individual and/or double inhumation graves dated between 2nd and 6th century AD. The bioarchaeological analysis covered a total of 641 individuals (346 males, 176 females, and 119 subadults), while bone traumas attributed to some sort of weapon were observed in ten skeletons (nine males and one female). All of the observed injuries were located in two major body regions: cranium and lower extremities. The majority of traumas were perimortem (inflicted at the time of death) while only two of the observed skeletons exhibited signs of healing. The forensic trauma analysis and experiments carried out with original Roman weaponry in Zadar skeletal sample strongly suggest the use of long sharp weapons (spatha, gladius, and probably pugio or some other kind of long knife) and projectiles (lead or stone sling-shots, arrows, and/or catapult bolt-heads/throwing javelins). Future multidisciplinary research should answer the question whether some of the analysed individuals were active soldiers or veterans who participated in military campaigns where they suffered observed injuries, or just innocent civilian victims of numerous armed conflicts.

Zadar; Roman period; weapon injuries; perimortem trauma

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