Medieval Scottish Man May Be First Confirmed Case of Death by Trebuchet

BERLIN, GERMANY—The Herald Scotland reports that scholars believe they have identified the first ever documented victim of a trebuchet attack. The new research was presented by University of Bradford archaeologist Jo Buckberry at the biannual European meeting of the Paleopathology Association. During the 1990s, excavations at Scotland’s Stirling Castle uncovered the remains of an individual who likely perished during the siege of the fortress by the English king Edward I (reigned 1272–1307) in 1304. His skeleton was riddled with more than 160 separate fractures to his skull, ribs, vertebrae, and arms. After analyzing each fracture, Buckberry determined that the man, who was in his 20s, suffered catastrophic blunt-force trauma prior to his death. “It looks like he was hit from behind by something traveling at a great velocity. The most similar cases I was finding were car crashes and people hit by trains,” she said. “But how do you get from there to a guy in medieval Scotland? What is large and moving very, very quickly in 1304?” The answer: a missile launched from a type of catapult known as a trebuchet. During his attack on Stirling, Edward I is known to have deployed these siege engines, especially a huge machine known as the War Wolf. Buckberry concluded that the unfortunate deceased individual was likely hit by a high-velocity projectile sent by one of these weapons. To read about the fortifications of Scotland's Caerlaverock Castle, go to "Storming the Castle."