A case of decapitation in Canosa, South Italy (5th-6th century A.D.).
The authors present the case of an adult male (20-25 years) with a stature of 175 cm and a body mass of 68 kg, showing many wounds caused by both stabbing and cutting weapons. The subject was found in a tomb in the archeological area on the hill of San Pietro (Canosa, Bari), where there is a Paleo-Christian site dating back to the 6th-7th century a.d. The skeleton shows clear signs of decapitation, due not to an execution but to a fight during a battle.
Sublimi Saponetti
Sandro
S
Dipartimento di Zoologia, Sezione di Antropologia, Università degli Studi di Bari, via Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy.
Scattarella
Vito
V
Di Nunno
Cosimo
C
Emanuel
Patrizia
P
Di Nunno
Nunzio
N
D000328:Adult; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology; D049248:Decapitation / Q000266:history*; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D010164:Paleopathology; D011884:Radius / Q000473:pathology; D012886:Skull / Q000473:pathology; D013977:Tibia / Q000473:pathology; D014457:Ulna / Q000473:pathology