An Exceptional Case of Healed Vertebral Wound with Trapped Bronze Arrowhead: Analysis of a 7th–6th c. bc Individual from Central Kazakhstan

Projectile injury caused by an arrow shot is a common skeletal marker of interpersonal violence in archaeological populations. The injuries of the spine were usually fatal. Only few reports on healing of the vertebra pierced by flint arrowpoint can be found in bioarchaeological literature. This paper presents an exceptional case of a healed trapped bronze arrowhead wound in the spine of a 7th–6th c. bc elite nomad from Central Kazakhstan. Computed radiography and tomography as well non-destructive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry provide detailed information about the context and mechanism of the injury.