Death in the line of duty: late medieval burials at the site of Lepenski Vir, Serbia

Abstract

AbstractFour late medieval burials were excavated at the site of Lepenski Vir in the Iron Gates Gorge, Serbia. One of the individuals, Lepenski Vir 62, exhibits evidence of a sharp‐force trauma on the left parietal, consistent with a combat wound. None of the other contemporaneous individuals show any evidence of trauma or other pathology on the few preserved bones. We argue that the skeletons belong to soldiers involved in the border warfare on the Danube which was quite common at the end of the 14th and the first half of the 15th century between Serbian, Hungarian and Turkish forces. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.