Revealed, face of cave murder victim ... af ter 1,400 years
IT HAS the hallmarks of a classic murder inquiry – a victim suffering a broken jaw, fractured skull and injuries from a weapon driven right through his head.
But the team investigating this savage attack did not have the benefit of CCTV or a raft of witnesses to interview – as it happened 1,400 years ago.
Archaeologists excavating Smelter’s Cave in the Black Isle, Ross-shire, were astonished to discover the skeleton of a Pictish man buried in its recess.
His body had been placed in an unusual cross-legged position, with large stones holding down his legs and arms.
Possible motives for the killing, experts suggested, were ‘interpersonal conflict’ or human sacrifice.
The bones were sent to the University of Dundee’s Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification, led by world-renowned forensic anthropologist Professor Dame Sue Black.
Dame Sue and her team have now been able to describe in detail the horrific injuries the man sustained, as well as digitally reconstruct what he looked like.
Examining the damage to his remarkably well preserved skeleton, they were able to piece together the very cold case to explain how the man, estimated to be between 25 and 35 years old, met such a violent death.
Dame Sue said: ‘As you can see from the facial reconstruction he was a striking young man, but he met a very brutal end, suffering a minimum of five severe injuries to his head.’
She believes the first two blows were caused by a ‘cross-section implement’, such as a fighting stick, which had broken his teeth on the right side and jaw on the left. The third and fourth impacts, Dame Sue revealed, were occasioned by a heavy object such as a stone crushing his head.
But the fifth injury was distinct to the others in that a hole had been driven through the top of his skull.
A bone sample sent for carbon dating indicates that the victim died sometime between 430 and 630 AD, commonly referred to as the Pictish period in Scotland. Archaeologist Mary Peteranna, who helped uncover the bones last autumn, said the ‘strong and sturdy’ victim was ‘in his prime’ and showed no signs of illness or previous injury.
She said: ‘We can only conclude that he was overpowered, maybe by more than one person.’
Miraculously, the man’s front teeth remain intact and, according to researchers, he had long wavy hair with a thick Viking beard and mild blotches around his face. The skeleton was unearthed by Rosemarkie Cave Project volunteers digging to determine when the cave was occupied. They found evidence it had been used for ironsmithing in the Pictish period.
Excavation leader Steven Birch said: ‘Here, we have a man who has been brutally killed, but who has been laid to rest with some consideration – placed on his back, within a dark alcove, and weighed down by beach stones.’