Palaeomechanical investigations concerning the coherence of injury patterns and weapon efficiency on the basis of bronze-age human bones and weapons.

• Applicants: Dr. Detlef Jantzen; Professor Dr. Frank Nikulka; Privatdozent Dr. Jörg Orschiedt
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2016 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 332621647

There are numerous prehistoric human bones with injury patterns caused by interpersonal violence. As part of the DFG-funded project (JA 1835-2) investigating an early Bronze Age mass-conflict in the Tollensetal (Mecklenburg-West Pomerania), various lesions were examined anthropologically. Nevertheless, the complicated and highly dynamic processes which led to traumata are very difficult to determine using only conservative or experimental methods. Hence beginning in 2012 a methodological process (Palaeomechanics) was developed, which represents the relations between the external mechanical forces affecting the bone and specific injury patterns, as well as the weapon types used. A transdisciplinary suite of non-destructive methods of analysis was transformed into an effective workflow and applied successfully. The methods cover 3D-Imaging-Analysis and 3D-Reconstructions in connection with Finite Element Analysis (FEA), originally used in the field of engineering sciences. The FEA enables, among other aspects, to numerically verify or falsify initial hypotheses concerning injury processes and weapon efficiency. In order to generate further archaeological knowledge, a wider study of palaeomechanic investigations of Bronze-Age finds aims to standardize this workflow on the basis of a representative material base. The data thus obtained will be used for the development of diagnostic criteria for the differentiation of specific injury patterns in relation to the weapons which caused them, the possible use of protective armour and the applied strength, as well as the shooting-distances. This will not only help in reconstructing prehistoric conflicts and addressing further archaeological issues, but also offers a new basis for the analysis of injury processes in the field of Forensic Science.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants