Update on George!!!

I have to update you on poor old George, my skeleton from my first osteo report...

Well, we managed to find out, from evidence on his skeleton, that he more than likely died from a nasty blow to the head with an axe!!! Poor George!

Close examination of his skull showed scrapping marks to his left parietal bone (left part of upper skull), and a radiating fracture going into his frontal plate. This can be seen in the photo on the left, showing the left side of his skull and face, the scrapping marks seen near the top right of the photo, and the radiating fracture in the middle. This evidence was further confirmed by looking at the post-cranial parts (anything other than the skull) of his skeleton. The left clavicle (collar bone) showed two very slight cuts into the bone, and happened peri-mortem (before the individuals death). The two slight cuts to the bone can be seen in the middle of the clavicle in the photo on the right, on the bottom edge of the bone.

So basically, the evidence from the left side of the skull and the left clavicle, points towards a blow to his head, and maybe a second blow to his neck. The second blow cut of his left mastoid process (a tubercle just behind the ear) and left marks in his left clavicle.

Poor George died in a bad way, not from the disease that was quite chronic as seen from his hip joint, but from a nastly blow to his head and the second blow to his neck probably finished him off.

See....the bones never lie!!!