Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 113-114. (Budapest, 1986)

ADATTÁR - Derums, Vilis A.: Lettország lakosainak hadi sérülései a kőkorszakban (angol nyelven)

ADATTÁR MULTIPLE BATTLE INJURIES IN STONE AGE LATVIAN POPULATION VILIS A. DERUMS I^íumerous reports by authors from various countries are available on traumatic bone injuries and wounds in ancient people. Among them some papers report on grave battle injuries; Cyril Brian Courvill and Kenneth H. Abbott, 1942; Gyula Regöly-Mérei, 1962: Calvin Wells, 1965; Dimitri Roklin, 1965; Pavel Pirpilasvili, 1975 etc. This problem was also touched upon in our previous papers of 1970, 1978 and 1979. Historians of medicine, ethnographers and other specialists are interested in the type of ancient arms, their striking force and regenerative powers of the primitive man's organism. The territory of Latvia due to its advantageous position on the picturesque coast of the Baltic Sea abounding in fish and amber and also due to its deep lakes and woods full of game attracted strange wandering tribes already in prehistoric times. The Bait aborigines — the first settlers in the territory put up violent resistence to the intruders. Marks left on the bones of primitive fighters as a result of battle injuries are the only objective evidence of these battles. Using physical methods (roentgenoscopy, stereomicroscopy and partly histologically) we have examined 5150 skeletons (beginning with stone age to the XVIII century A. D.) from archaeological excavations in various parts of Latvia. Fig. 1. Multiple battle injuries: a) of the third thoracic vertebra with a flint spear head, b) of a lumbar vertebra with a bone arrow, c) four wounds in the right hipbone with a bone arrow in the extreme hole. The skeleton of an adult man (about 30 years old). Burial ground ,,Zveinieki" on the bank of the Burtnieku Lake, sepulchre 179. Neolith. Excavations by Francis Zagorskis of 1970.