SCIENCE LAB SCREENS : SKELETON 150

SOLVING the killing of Skeleton 150 ? That would be a very long shot. Today, Stirling Castle is a tourist site nestled in the hills of Scotland, but in 1304 it was a war zone.

That's when the English captured the castle during a siege. Now researchers believe that one of the skeletons from this battle might be the first confirmed victim of the war catapult called the trebuchet.

The extensive injuries to this smashed skeleton, called Skeleton 150 by archaeologists, suggested to researchers that the bones were most likely broken by the high-force impact of a trebuchet projectile.

'' I was piecing all of these things together and then asking, '' Well, what's happening in medieval Stirling that could explain this? ' '' said Dr. Jo Buckberry, a biologist at the University of Bradford in England.

'' The obvious answer is the use of trebuchets.''

The skeleton was excavated in 1997, when Historic Environment Scotland was refurbishing the palace. Skeleton 150, alongside several others were found under the floor of the castle's royal chapel.

This burial place suggested that those conducting the funerals were unable to access typical burial places outside the castle walls. This indicated the bones might date to the 1304 battle, after which English took control of Stirling.

Using X-rays and microscopy, Dr. Buckberry and her colleague, Dr. Patrick Randolph-Quinney, a biological anthropologist in Sweden, discovered that Skeleton 150 had complex, zigzag-patterned fractures, similar to those seen in modern victims injured in car accidents.

The only explanation that seemed to fit all the injuries was one of blunt-force trauma from an extremely heavy projectile.

Researchers suggest that this projectile, launched from the strongest of the medieval war catapults, the trebuchet, might have hit skeleton 150 - most likely a defender of the castle in his 20s or early 30s - from behind, as he ran for cover.

!WOW! thanks K.R. Callaway.