Conquistadores were backshooters

Rokcet Scientist · Post by **Rokcet Scientist** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 3:08 am

New York Times: Published: June 20, 2007

Earliest Gunshot Victim in New World Is Reported

By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD

Archaeologists in Peru have uncovered the human skeleton of what they conclude is the earliest known gunshot victim in the New World.

Digging in an Inca cemetery in the suburbs of Lima, they came on well-preserved remains of an individual with holes less than an inch in diameter in the back and front of the skull. Forensic scientists in Connecticut said the position of the round holes and some minuscule iron particles showed that the person most likely was shot and killed by a Spanish musket ball.

Ceramics and other artifacts in the 72 examined graves established the approximate time of the burials, archaeologists said, and this indicated that these were casualties of combat between Inca warriors and Spanish invaders, who seized the Andean empire in 1532. Spanish chronicles describe a pitched battle, a last stand of the Incas that was fought in the vicinity in 1536.

Whole article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/20/scien ... ref=slogin (reg. required)

Starflower · Post by **Starflower** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:34 am

Great article!

In a telephone interview Monday, Dr. Cock said that at least 35 of the excavated skeletons bore evidence of violent injuries: cheekbones crushed by heavy blows, broken hands and limbs, a smashed chest. Some had presumably fallen in hand-to-hand combat or been trampled by Spanish horses, another instrument of warfare new to the Americas.

No similar evidence of a death by gunshot this early has been found elsewhere in the Americas, Dr. Cock said. The musket shot appeared to have entered the back of the man’s skull, punching a piece of bone from outside to inside, and emerged through the face.

Definitely sounds like some kind of battle to me.

AD · Post by AD » Thu Jun 21, 2007 10:03 pm

Actually, shooting someone from behind is rather typical of medieval warfare, it seems. (I know, Conquistadores were not technically medieval time-wise, but close nonetheless.) Examination of human remains from European battlefields of the Middle Ages reveals that the real slaughter came when one side broke and ran, the losers being cut down as they fled. So much for glory, romance, chivalry, etc...

Alan
http://www.daysknob.com