The face of conflict: Significant sharp force trauma to the mid-facial skeleton in an individual of probable 16th–17th century date excavated from Byczyna, Poland

Abstract

A variety of injuries have always been associated with violence, consequences of which people had to deal with. In this paper we present a complex of craniofacial and dental injuries resulted from sharp force trauma. The basis of our study was historical skeletal material excavated from archeological site in Byczyna (11th–17th century), Poland. An individual whose skeleton was exhumed from the grave No. 610 exhibited healed, oblique trauma of the left maxilla, damage to the crowns of right central and lateral incisors and concomitant luxation of the right maxillary central incisor. We describe the mechanism of this trauma and complications that resulted from damage to the masticatory apparatus.