An arrowhead injury in a Neolithic human axis from the natural cave of Lapa do Bugio (Sesimbra, Portugal)

Abstract

Lapa do Bugio is a small natural cave located in a limestone cliff hanging over the sea at Azóia, Sesimbra, around 40 km south of Lisbon. This cave was used as burial place in the Late Neolithic. The necropolis comprised ten individual graves, an ossuary and a small cache, but today it is impossible to assign bones to individual graves. Therefore the anthropological remains were studied as if they were from an ossuary. The human remains from this site housed in the Museu Municipal de Sesimbra were recently re-studied by the current authors. Based on the number of mandibles, the remains represent at least 16 individuals, 15 adults and one sub-adult. Among the three vertebral remains, an arrowhead was found embedded in the second cervical vertebra of an adult of unknown sex. The tip had entered into the vertebral body and the other end of the arrowhead was lodged against the spinous process, indicating that this projectile had entered from behind. Therefore, this injury penetrated through the spinal cord of the individual, who could not possibly have survived. X-rays and computer tomography confirmed that there were no signs of healing. No other indications of trauma were observed in the human bone sample. The aim of this paper is to describe this projectile injury. It represents the first Portuguese Late Neolithic case in which an arrowhead has been found embedded in bone and adds to the very few archaeological case descriptions available worldwide.