A fragment of parietal bone from an adult individual of unknown sex exhumed from the collective burial of Praia da
Samarra (Sintra, Portugal), dated to the end of the Neolithic, presents signs of different types of trauma. These include
thinning of the skull vault and incisions marks. Differential diagnoses for these alterations are discussed: for the first
one, depressed skull factures is the most likely cause. For the incisions, trepanation (more probable) and trauma due to a
sharp force are proposed. These hypotheses are also discussed in terms of other similar findings from coeval Portuguese
collective burials

Ana Maria Silva

Maria Teresa Ferreira

English

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Coll. Antropol. 32 (2008) 2: 633–635Case ReportSigns of Trauma in an Adult Parietal BoneExhumed from a Portuguese PrehistoricCollective BurialAna Maria Silva and Maria Teresa FerreiraDepartment of Anthropology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, PortugalA B S T R A C TA fragment of parietal bone from an adult individual of unknown sex exhumed from the collective burial of Praia daSamarra (Sintra, Portugal), dated to the end of the Neolithic, presents signs of different types of trauma. These includethinning of the skull vault and incisions marks. Differential diagnoses for these alterations are discussed: for the firstone, depressed skull factures is the most likely cause. For the incisions, trepanation (more probable) and trauma due to asharp force are proposed. These hypotheses are also discussed in terms of other similar findings from coeval Portuguesecollective burials.Key words: cranial injuries, incisions, fractures, late Neolithic/Chalcolithic, PortugalIntroductionIn 1948, the prehistoric grave of uncertain typologywas discovered near the beach of Samarra (Sintra, Lis-bon). The excavation of this collective burial place re-vealed a great number of commingled fragmentary hu-man remains. These days, part of these remains arecurated in the Museum Arqueológico de São Miguel deOdrinhas (Sintra). So far, it was not possible to localizethe rest of the exhumed human bones.Anthropological analysis of the sample housed in theabovementioned Museum revealed a minimal number of79 individuals, 55 adults (both sexes) and 24 non-adults.Due to the nature of the sample, few adult age estimatorswere available. Even so, it is possible to say that the sam-ple includes young adults but evidence of old individuals(> 50 years) was also register. The non-adult sample in-cludes individuals between 7 months and 17 years of ageat death. The detailed osteological study of the sample ispublished elsewhere1.The datation of one human bone confirmed the LateNeolithic/Chalcolithic chronology: 3820 ± 60 BP; 2399--2144 cal BC (1 sigma); 2465-2042 cal BC (2 sigma)(Sac-1827).This article reports on antemortem cut marks andthinning of the skull vault found on a fragment of adultparietal bone.Case ReportAmong the fragmentary and disarticulated humanbones preserved from the grave of Samarra, a fragmentof a right parietal bone, belonging to an adult of un-known sex, displays signs of trauma.On the lateral side of the parietal bone fragment, acomplete incision with at least, 6 mm is visible (the boneis broken postmortem) (Figure 1). Near the coronal su-ture (last 2 mm), the cutting was incomplete, perforatingonly the outer table (Figure 1 – see a). Macroscopic signsof remodelling are visible along the margin, with smooth-ing of the margin edges. Furthermore, loss of typical lay-ering of the skull bone at the defect margins, in particu-lar the loss of the diploic structure already started.According to studies of Nerlich et al.2, these are charac-teristics of remodelling processes after cutting skull de-fects. At the posterior end of the incision, the parietal633Received for publication October 31, 2006bone is very thin, exhibiting almost half of the thicknessof the surrounding bone (Figure 1 – see b). Radiologicalexamination show signs of healing along the incisionsince part of the diploe is recover with new bone (Figure 2).The left margin of the parietal bone fragment, with8mm, also show signs of trauma, that is, due to a com-plete incision. Here, the cutting line is curved, in direc-tion to the endocranium. At the mid portion of this inci-sion, resorption of the marginal bone edges started andnew bone formation is visible. Moreover, partially loss ofthe diploic structure occurred. On this side of the frag-ment, the parietal bone near the coronal suture is alsovery thin.DiscussionAmong the human remains recovered from the collec-tive grave of Samarra, one right parietal bone fragment,belonging to an adult individual of unknown sex displaysigns of several traumas.For the two areas of cranial thinning, depressed skullfractures are a possible diagnosis. These cranial injuriesare described in several coeval Portuguese series, asCabeço da Arruda, Dolmen de Ansião, Eira Pedrinha,Serra da Roupa, Hipogeu de São Pedro do Estoril II,Hipogeu de Monte Canelas I3–4.For the two perforating trauma, two possible diagno-ses can be advanced: sharp-force cranial trauma or trepa-nation. For Portuguese late Neolithic/Chalcolithic popu-lations’ only two possible penetrating weapons woundsare published3–4. In both cases arrowheads caused the le-sions. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that the incisions nowdescribed were caused by this kind of weapon due totheir features.A case of trepanation is another possible explanation.The incisions observed in the cranial fragment of Sa-marra are very similar to the trepanation of the Hipogeude São Pedro do Estoril (SPEII) described by Silva5. Thisartificial cave, also dated to the Late Neolithic/Chal-colithic, is situated only few kms south from Samarra.The trepanation of SPEII was performed on young adultmale by incision method, on the right parietal bone nearthe sagittal and coronal sutures. The trepanation hole isrectangular, measuring 45 mm anteroposterially and amaximum of 5mm mediolaterally. A right parietal bonefrom Dolmen da Capela (Figueira da Foz) also exhibits acurved incision that despite being incomplete is similarto the present case6.According to Silva’s6 survey about trepanation in lateNeolithic, Chalcolithic and early Bronze age periods fromPortugal, the parietal bone was the most frequentlytrepanned skull element (85%) being incision and scrap-ing methods the two more used methods. A high rate ofsurvival after the operation is also observed in the Portu-guese cases.Due to the fragmentary nature of the right parietalbone here analyse, it is impossible to infer about the cor-relation of the described injuries. Nevertheless, the pos-sibility that they are linked can’t be excluded. In 2003,Gama and Cunha7 described a trepanation in the leftfrontal bone of a male died in his late fifties from Covãode Almeida (Eira Pedrinha, Portugal). The observation ofa callous osseous on the endocranium of this bone leadsthese authors to interpret this ovoid/elliptical shape trep-anation as a therapeutic treatment to relieve pressure. Insum, a case of trepanation after a traumatic injury, an in-terpretation that can also be proposed for the case nowdiscussed.A. M. Silva and M. T. Ferreira: Trauma in Portuguese Neolithic Adult Parietal Bone, Coll. Antropol. 32 (2008) 2: 633–635634Fig. 1. Lateral side of a right adult parietal bone exhumed fromthe collective burial of Samarra (Portugal) with signs of a com-plete incision. a – incomplete perforation; b – thinning of the cra-nium vault.Fig. 2. Radiological examination of the right adult parietal boneof Samarra (Portugal) displaying signs of bone remodellingalong the incision margins.ConclusionA fragment of an adult right parietal bone recoveredfrom the collective burial of Praia da Samarra exhibitssigns of trauma. Differential diagnoses are proposed anddiscussed. Two of these alterations are probably due todepressed skull factures. The incisions are more difficultto interpret. Trauma due to a sharp force and trepana-tion are proposed. Despite the fragmentary and incom-pleteness of the analysed cranial bone fragment of Praiada Samarra, the features of the incisions, namely whencomparing with other Portuguese findings6, make thehypothesis of trepanation more possible. The associationof the describe trauma was also proposed, namely thatthe surgical treatment – trepanation – was performed af-ter an earlier trauma – the depressed factures.AcknowledgementsRui Marques and Sónia Codinha from Departamentode Antropologia, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal.José Cardim Ribeiro and Teresa Simões from MuseuArqueológico de São Miguel de Odrinhas (Sintra). In-stituto Ambiente e Vida and Centro de InvestigaçãoAntropologia e Saúde. We also thank the three anony-mous reviewers for their useful comments.R E F E R E N C E S1. SILVA AM, CODINHA S, FERREIRA MT, Praia da Samarra. Estu-do antropológico dos restos ósseos depositados no Museu Arqueológico deSão Miguel de Odrinhas (Sintra) (Departamento de Antropologia daFCTUC, Coimbra, 2005). Unpublished report — 2. NEHLICH AG, PES-CHEL O, ZINK A, RÖSING F, The pathology of trepanation: differentialdiagnosis, healing and dry bone appearance in modern cases. In: AR-NOTT R, FINGER S, SMITH CUM (Eds) Trepanation. History – Discov-ery – Theory.(Swets & Zeitlinger Publishers, Lisse, 2003). — 3. SILVAAM, Antropologia Funerária e Paleobiologia das populações portuguesas(litorais) do Neolítico final/Calcolítico. PhD thesis. (Departamento de An-tropologia, FCTUC, Coimbra, 2002). Not published. — 4. SILVA AM, ANeolithic skull lesion probably caused by an arrowhead. AntropologiaPortuguesa, 19 (2002) 139. — 5. SILVA AM, Human remains from the ar-tificial cave of São Pedro do Estoril II (Cascais, Portugal). Hum Evol, 14/3(1999) 199. — 6. SILVA AM, Trepanation in the Portuguese Late Neo-lithic, Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Man. In: ARNOTT R, FINGERS, SMITH CUM (Eds) Trepanation. History – Discovery – Theory.(Swets& Zeitlinger Publishers, Lisse, 2003) 117. — 7. GAMA P, CUNHA E, ANeolithic case of trepanation (Eira Pedrinha, Portugal). In: ARNOTT R,FINGER S, SMITH CUM (Eds) Trepanation. History – Discovery – The-ry. (Swets & Zeitlinger Publishers, Lisse, 2003) 131.A. M. SilvaDepartment of Antropology, University of Coimbra, 3000–056 Coimbra, Portugale-mail: amgsilva@antrop.uc.ptZNAKOVI TRAUME NA PARIJETALNOJ KOSTI ODRASLE OSOBE ISKOPANOJIZ PORTUGALSKOG PRETPOVIJESNOG KOLEKTIVNOG UKOPAS A @ E T A KFragment parijetalne kosti odrasle osobe nepoznatog spola, iskopan iz kolektivnog ukopa Praia da Samarrra (Sin-tra, Portugal) i datiran na kraj neolitika, ima znakove razli~itih vrsta traume. To uklju~uje stanjivanje luka lubanje itragove incizije (urezivanja). Razmotrene su razli~ite dijagnoze za ovu vrstu promjena: uzrok udubljene lubanje naj-vjerojatnije je fraktura. Za incizije se pretpostavlja trepanacija (vjerojatnije) i trauma uzrokovana o{trom silom. Ovehipoteze se tako|er raspravljaju u odnosu na druge sli~ne nalaze iz istovremenih kolektivnih ukopa u Portugalu.A. M. Silva and M. T. Ferreira: Trauma in Portuguese Neolithic Adult Parietal Bone, Coll. Antropol. 32 (2008) 2: 633–635635

Signs of Trauma in an Adult Parietal Bone Exhumed from a Portuguese Prehistoric Collective Burial

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