Each Weapon Tells a Different Story

Distribution of lesion types across body regions — 139 total lesions, Cemetery 117, Jebel Sahaba

Cranium
Upper limbs & shoulders
Trunk
Lower limbs & pelvis
Lesion type → where on the body
Fractures
(healed & fresh)
84.8% upper limb
Projectile marks
(drag, puncture, perf.)
25.7%
22.9%
44.3% lower body
Embedded
stone points
15%
20%
55% lower body
Blunt force
trauma
100% cranium
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Fractures tell of defense, not offense. Four out of every five fractures fall on the arms and shoulders. The ulna — the forearm bone — was the most broken single element, from victims raising their arms to block blows.
Projectiles found their target low. Nearly half of all projectile marks and more than half of embedded stone fragments lodged in the lower body. The femur and pelvis were hit most often — the pattern of people struck while running.
Blunt force was reserved for the head. Every single instance of blunt force trauma is on the skull, indicating a distinct close-range killing act separate from the ranged projectile attack.
Source: Crevecoeur et al. (2021). Scientific Reports 11, 9991 — Table 2. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-89386-y