The Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH) has just published a study in the journal Scientific Reports, led by the research team of the European project DEATHREVOL, proposing new analytical tools to better understand how fractures of the human skull occur and how these injuries can be interpreted to distinguish between accidental trauma and trauma resulting from interpersonal violence.

The results show that impact energy and bone properties are key factors in the formation of cranial fractures. Features such as bone thickness, fracture morphology, and the presence of secondary fractures can serve as indirect indicators of the energy involved in the impact and the type of object or surface responsible.

The type of surface producing the impact also influences the morphology of these injuries. More concentrated impacts tend to produce depressed fractures, characterized by inward displacement of the bone and commonly associated with violent events. In contrast, impacts produced by broader surfaces tend to generate linear fractures, that is, cracks or lines in the bone typically associated with accidental trauma.

A multidisciplinary approach
The researchers analyzed an extensive experimental dataset derived from studies in bioengineering and forensic medicine. The analysis included 329 controlled experimental impacts, in which several physical variables were recorded, including impact energy, applied force, velocity, and the mass of the impacting object.

The multidisciplinary approach adopted in this study, combining bioengineering, forensic medicine, and archaeology, may significantly improve the interpretation of trauma observed in archaeopalaeontological human remains.

“Understanding how these fractures occur not only allows us to reconstruct possible episodes of violence, accidental falls, or post-mortem processes, but also provides new insights into human behaviour throughout history,” explains Daniel Rodríguez-Iglesias, first author of the paper and member of DEATHREVOL, a research group specialized in the study of death, trauma, and taphonomic processes, led by Nohemí Sala.

This study, which also involved researchers from the University of Burgos and Rey Juan Carlos University (Madrid), was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the State Research Agency, with support from the European Research Council (ERC) through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme, as well as the Sabadell Foundation.