Abstract
The present auther found a human femur penetrated by a stone arrowhead at the No. 17 burial site in the Usu-10 Shellmound, Date, Hokkaido. According to the archaeological remains accompanying this bone, the burial was definitely dated as being the EpiJomon period (about 2000 B. P.).
The head of the right femur of this adult male was penetrated by an arrowhead made of obsidian. The base of the arrowhead was broken off just at the outer surface of the bone, but a C. T, image showed that the tip of it was buried about 14mm from the surface of the femoral head in the substantia spongiosa.
The angle of incidence indicated that the injured man must have been struk by an arrow on the backside of hip from an upper direction, supposing he had been standing. Provably he did not survive long after getting this wound, because there could be seenno healing process on the bony substance.
It was doubtful that the wound itself would have been fatal for him, because there existed no lethal arteries on the course of the arrowhead to reach his femur. However, we could not eliminate the possibility that the arrowhead was poisoned with an alkaloid, such as Aconitum, used in more recent times. Several possible causes for this injury were surmised as follows: hunting accident. battling, human sacrifice.
