#Skeletons found buried in Stirling castle
Facial reconstructions of the knight and the woman:
''Skeleton 148: Male aged 26-35 years. Height 168cm or 5’7”. There is a 7.1% chance he died between 1324-45AD but an 88.3% likelihood it was 1392-1450AD. A robust man, previously examined and identified as probably being a knight. A blade injury to his forehead which had healed some time before death show he was no stranger to violence. He had also suffered injury to his two front upper teeth. The teeth died but would still have been in place at the time of death. The blow could have been from an accident, or a violent encounter. A corroded iron arrow head was found close to his spine. Unfortunately the bones of his spine are not well preserved and no evidence of any injury could be seen. He may have died as a result of a soft tissue injury or haemorrhaging after being shot by the arrow – but it is also possible that the arrowhead was a chance inclusion in the grave."
''The angle and nature of the fatal facial blow suffered by the knight may indicate that he was on the ground when he was struck."
"They were part of a group of 12 skeletons, some highly fragmentary, which were discovered.
Among them was a female, probably buried some time in the 13th century, who had two neat, square holes through her skull which were consistent with blows from a war hammer. "
''Skeleton 539: Female aged 36-45. Height 161cm or 5’4”. There is a 51.9% chance she died 1270-1324AD and 43.5% that it was 1344-94AD. Robust, with strong muscle insertions on her arms and legs. Her spine had a developmental anomaly, but this probably did not affect her in life. Skeleton 539 sustained several injuries to skull around the time she died. There are two rectangular shaped holes in the top of her head. The holes are larger on the inside than the outside, which indicates they were made when the bone was still ‘wet’ – had the ability to bend under tension. Skeleton 539 has 10 peri-mortem fractures to the right side of her skull, caused by two or more blows to the side of the head. The rectangular perforations suggest the attacker was above the woman – perhaps on horseback while she was on foot, or the blows to the side of her head could have brought her to the ground before the two rectangular penetrating injuries were sustained."
This gives details about the skeletons:
http://www.primarytimes.net/edinburgh_stirling_skeletons.php
#Pain
I have read some people say that if people are injured in a fight, they will scream and clutch the wound and just let themselves be finished off. That is a counter-intuitive thing to do.
If natural selection was allowed to influence human behaviour in fights to the death, we would expect there to be a fighting state in which the man does not feel pain and fights at his full capacity, with more strength than he is capable of using when calm, and with a sped-up brain.
People like this would surely have an advantage against people who give up at their first injury. It also seems nature has made us this way.
I used to know someone who knows someone who got into a fight with a mugger who had a knife. He won the fight and only afterwards noticed his tummy wound because he felt it was wet.
When not in a fight, paper cuts and bumping into corners hurts, but when in a fight, punches do not.
I have not included any references here, but I tell you that in every account I remember reading, the injuries themselves were mentioned, but I have never read of someone fighting less well because he had decided to cry in pain instead. You can be shot with a rifle and not be in agony, just poking your finger through the hole or asking someone if you’ve been shot.
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