Updated

Updated · The New York Times · Aug 20

Stirling Castle Skeleton 150 Confirmed as First Known Trebuchet Death From 1304 Siege

Updated

Updated · The New York Times · Aug 20

Stirling Castle Skeleton 150 Confirmed as First Known Trebuchet Death From 1304 Siege

Q: How did a 14th-century Scottish soldier suffer injuries identical to a modern high-speed train crash?

He most likely suffered them by being struck from behind by a large stone fired from a medieval trebuchet during the 1304 siege of Stirling Castle. Researchers studying “Skeleton 150,” a young man found buried beneath Stirling Castle’s royal chapel, identified more than 160 fractures, including 61 to the skull and about 57 to the ribs, plus major breaks in the shoulder, spine, arms and right leg. Using X-rays, microscopy, micro-CT and 3D scanning, they determined the damage happened at or around the time of death, not after burial. What made the case striking is that the fracture pattern closely resembles trauma seen today in severe car crashes or train strikes: a single, catastrophic, high-velocity blunt-force impact. The injuries suggest he was standing when something hit his right shoulder and the back of his head, knocking him down almost instantly and likely killing him on the spot. Archaeologists ruled out more ordinary explanations such as a fall from the castle walls, trampling, horse or cart impact, or excavation damage. The wartime burial context and the date, which fits the Wars of Scottish Independence and likely the 1304 English siege, point to siege artillery as the best match. That is why researchers believe the “modern crash-like” injuries were caused not by machinery, but by medieval military engineering: a heavy stone, possibly around 140 kilograms, hurled at great speed by a trebuchet such as Edward I’s famous War Wolf or a similar siege engine.

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 20

Researchers identified Skeleton 150 as the first confirmed person killed by a trebuchet, linking the 14th-century remains to the 1304 siege of Stirling Castle.
Severe fractures across the body resembled high-speed, high-force trauma, leading biological anthropologist Jo Buckberry to conclude a trebuchet projectile was the most likely cause.
The finding, presented this month at the 25th meeting of the Paleopathology Association in Berlin, resolves a question that lingered for decades after the skeleton’s discovery.
Excavated in 1997 beneath the royal chapel floor with other bodies, the remains were buried in an unusual spot that suggested normal graveyards outside the castle walls were inaccessible during the battle.