Weapon-related Cranial Lesions from Medieval and Renaissance Turin, Italy

Archaeological excavations carried out in the square around the Cathedral of S. Giovanni in Turin brought to light burials referable to the medieval and Renaissance periods. The anthropological examination of the skeletal remains allowed to identify two skeletons from the medieval period (10th–11th centuries) and four skeletons from the Renaissance age (15th century) showing weapon-related cranial injuries. These peri mortem lesions are indicators of interpersonal aggression and in particular of armed conflicts. The two individuals from the early medieval period presented three traumas consisting in sharp force lesions caused by bladed weapons. As regards the Renaissance sample, themajority of the nine peri mortem injuries were sharp force wounds, followed by a blunt force trauma. These distribution patterns might reflect different fighting techniques, whereas the side distribution and location of the skull trauma provide further indications on the fighting modalities. Identification of the weapons that caused these traumas is suggested. The lack of post-cranial wounds at Piazza S. Giovanni might be explained by the greater attention paid to the head, which was the main target of attack, or by adequate protection of the body through medieval and Renaissance armours. Otherwise, the wounds in the body would have been found only in the soft tissues, with no involvement of the bones. Despite the presence of weapon injuries, the results obtained from the study of the Renaissance sample are different from the findings of other contemporary battlefields. It is highly likely that the individuals of the Renaissance age were not young soldiers employed in war episodes and brought back for burial in Turin after battles that had taken place elsewhere. Instead, they were probably individuals who had died in riots or in other violent city episodes, as the historical records for the Renaissance age seem to confirm

Fine-scale sampling uncovers the complexity of migrations in 5th–6th century Pannonia

As the collapse of the Western Roman Empire accelerated during the 4th and 5th centuries, arriving "barbarian" groups began to establish new communities in the border provinces of the declining (and eventually former) empire. This was a time of significant cultural and political change throughout not only these border regions but Europe as a whole.1,2 To better understand post-Roman community formation in one of these key frontier zones after the collapse of the Hunnic movement, we generated new paleogenomic data for a set of 38 burials from a time series of three 5th century cemeteries3,4,5 at Lake Balaton, Hungary. We utilized a comprehensive sampling approach to characterize these cemeteries along with data from 38 additional burials from a previously published mid-6th century site6 and analyzed them alongside data from over 550 penecontemporaneous individuals.7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19 The range of genetic diversity in all four of these local burial communities is extensive and wider ranging than penecontemporaneous Europeans sequenced to date. Despite many commonalities in burial customs and demography, we find that there were substantial differences in genetic ancestry between the sites. We detect evidence of northern European gene flow into the Lake Balaton region. Additionally, we observe a statistically significant association between dress artifacts and genetic ancestry among 5th century genetically female burials. Our analysis shows that the formation of early Medieval communities was a multifarious process even at a local level, consisting of genetically heterogeneous groups

Appendice 2 : Recenti scoperte di archeologia cristiana in Piemonte

Pejrani Baricco Luisella. Appendice 2 : Recenti scoperte di archeologia cristiana in Piemonte. In: Actes du XIe congrès international d'archéologie chrétienne. Lyon, Vienne, Grenoble, Genève, Aoste, 21-28 septembre 1986. Rome : École Française de Rome, 1989. pp. 2253-2261. (Publications de l'École française de Rome, 123

Appendice 2 : Recenti scoperte di archeologia cristiana in Piemonte

Pejrani Baricco Luisella. Appendice 2 : Recenti scoperte di archeologia cristiana in Piemonte. In: Actes du XIe congrès international d'archéologie chrétienne. Lyon, Vienne, Grenoble, Genève, Aoste, 21-28 septembre 1986. Rome : École Française de Rome, 1989. pp. 2253-2261. (Publications de l'École française de Rome, 123

Archeologia e storia di castelli alpini: esperienze di indagine in Val Susa

Il saggio propone una sintesi metodologica delle interazioni tra archeologia, storia dell'architettura e pianificazione del territorio, focalizzando l'attenzione sulla conoscenza, sul restauro e sulla rifunzionalizzazione dei ruderi di castelli medieval

Archeologia e storia di castelli alpini: esperienze di indagine in Val Susa

Il saggio propone una sintesi metodologica delle interazioni tra archeologia, storia dell'architettura e pianificazione del territorio, focalizzando l'attenzione sulla conoscenza, sul restauro e sulla rifunzionalizzazione dei ruderi di castelli medievali