Overview
- Researchers reexamined a medieval burial beneath Stirling Castle and documented 167 fractures on a single individual known as Skeleton 150, with heavy damage to the skull, ribs and right shoulder.
- New micro‑CT and 3D scanning showed the breaks occurred around the time of death rather than after burial, allowing investigators to distinguish perimortem trauma from postmortem damage.
- Radiocarbon dating places Skeleton 150 at about 1300, a period when historical records report Edward I’s forces using multiple siege engines at Stirling, including the large trebuchet nicknamed the War Wolf.
- The team concludes the pattern and force of injuries are most consistent with a single high‑velocity blunt projectile from a siege engine, but they stop short of proving the death was caused by a specific machine.
- All eight skeletons found beneath the royal chapel show perimortem wounds, and the study’s methods could prompt new reviews of medieval trauma to better map how siege warfare affected civilians and combatants.