A Medieval Man's Injuries Reminded One Archaeologist of Modern-Day Car Crash Victims. They Turned Out to Be the Work of an English Trebuchet
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In 1304, Edward I of England unveiled a powerful new weapon in his fight against Scotland. Known as the War Wolf, the siege engine was the largest wooden trebuchet ever built, capable of launching projectiles that weighed more than 300 pounds.
Reported by 1 outlet — Smithsonian. See all sources ↓
In 1304, Edward I of England unveiled a powerful new weapon in his fight against Scotland. Known as the War Wolf, the siege engine was the largest wooden trebuchet ever built, capable of launching projectiles that weighed more than 300 pounds. According to a 19th-century history, the weapon smashed through the walls of Scotland’s Stirling Castle as easily “as an arrow would fly through a piece of cloth.” More than 700 years after Edward cowed the Scots into submission (albeit temporarily), archaeologists have uncovered a rare reminder of the damage inflicted by the king’s siege engines. As Jo Buckberry, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Bradford in England, announced at a recent meeting of the Paleopathology Association, a skeleton excavated at the Scottish castle bears more than 160 fractures sustained at or around the time of death, with most of the injuries concentrated on the skull and the ribs.
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- In 1304, Edward I of England unveiled a powerful new weapon in his fight against Scotland. Known as the War Wolf, the siege engine was the largest wooden trebuchet ever built, capable of launching projectiles that weighed more than 300 pounds.
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A Medieval Man's Injuries Reminded One Archaeologist of Modern-Day Car Crash Victims. They Turned Out to Be the Work of an English Trebuchet
Sources1TypeCoverageSmithsonian