Researchers say Skeleton 150 — a man in his 20s found beneath Stirling Castle's chapel — may be the oldest known victim of a trebuchet after identifying 167 peri-mortem fractures.
Micro-CT and 3D scans showed 61 skull fractures, 57 rib breaks and zigzag impact patterns concentrated in the upper body, indicating a high-velocity strike rather than post-burial damage.
Carbon-14 dating placed the remains around 1300, aligning them with Edward I's 1304 siege of Stirling Castle, when English forces deployed up to a dozen siege engines.
The team said the fatal projectile could have come from a weapon like the giant 'War Wolf' trebuchet, though they cannot prove that specific engine was responsible.
The finding also helps explain why eight trauma-marked medieval skeletons were buried inside the royal chapel — an unusual resting place during the Wars of Scottish Independence.