To browse Academia. In , in between the Gallo-Roman thermal baths and theatre of Evreux France , four decapitated bodies were uncovered in a small funerary zone consisting of nine tombs with burials dating from the end of Antiquity probably between the 4th and 5th centuries.
Seven men and women were identified. The marks of sharp weapons were observed on three of the men and one woman. Deadly wounds from one or several blows were traced on the cervical rachis — between vertebrae C2 and C7 — and in one case, on the mandible and the temporal bone. The composition of the buried group mainly male adults , the organization of the tombs with at least two orientations , and the nature of the lesions localization and precision of cuts have guided our hypotheses with the aim of understanding the event which led to such violent deaths, towards war, ritual sacrifice, murder or judicial punishment.
The paleopathological analysis, especially in combination with historical data, can be an important tool for research. There was clear archaeological evidence for the decapitation of three individuals.
We learned that these unfortunate individuals were expelled from society, lived in marginal conditions. Medieval citizens feared the person with leprosy out of uncertainty, misinformation, self-preservation, and ignorance.
By virtue of being considered an evil outcast, people with the disease were symbolic representations of evil. In individual with disabled was treated as 2nd class human beings who was unfinished and deformed due to a sin or cheat of nature. A cranial sharp-force weapon injuries were observed, which varied from small isolated punctures to multiple linear injuries.
