Perimortem cranial injury in the Bronze Age. A blunt object to the right parietal caused trauma in a preadolescent individual from Mokarta (Salemi-Sicily)

Abstract

Sicilian protohistory was characterized by a progressive flow of indigenous populations towards the hills of the western Sicilian hinterland. Especially during the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age, the island's hinterland was marked by isolated settlements due to Siculi, Ausoni, Morgeti, and Elimi invasions and Phoenician and Greek colonization. In this scenario, Mokarta is an example of territorial autonomy and ethnic isolation (Sicanian) within an area of Elimi colonization. Its demise in the 11th century B.C.E, presumably at the hands of the Elimi, was rapid and violent as the settlement was suddenly abandoned following its destruction by fire. Symbolic of this event is an individual found at the entrance of a burned and collapsed hut who appears to have died from a cranial injury. This paper focuses on the osteological analysis of this skeleton, highlighting the perimortem injury, related to his death, and places the results within a forensic archeological context. The morphological pattern of the lesion is the result of a high-energy impact by a circular blunt object. The fracture, involving both the meningeal vessels and the brain, could have led to a fatal neurological trauma. The analysis of the cranial fracture and an anatomical evaluation of the affected area led us to conclude that the perimortem injury, inflicted on the right parietal, probably was the cause of death. The case proposed highlights how an integrated approach based on bioarcheology and forensic anthropology helps in interpreting an archeological scenario and formulating hypotheses about the circumstances of an individual's death.