Medieval History
Films like Seven Samurai, Ran and Heaven and Earth have made Japan?s historic Samurai warriors famous But now, their skeletons have been examined in forensic detail by Japanese and British scientists.
A leading British specialist in forensic anthropology has been investigating battle wounds sustained by medieval Japanese warriors almost 700 years ago. Working with Japanese colleagues, Dr Michael Wysocki of the University of Central Lancashire?s School of Forensic and Investigative Sciences, has found evidence of sword and arrow wounds, ritualized coup de grace death blows, and even evidence of Samurai heads being taken as trophies by their enemies.
The newly analysed evidence, which was presented by Britain?s Channel 4 in a documentary called Samurai: Back From The Dead earlier this week, shed important new light on the origins of Japan?s Samurai warrior tradition.
Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net
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Medieval History
14th-century Samurai battle wounds discovered by scientists
Films like Seven Samurai, Ran and Heaven and Earth have made Japan?s historic Samurai warriors famous But now, their skeletons have been examined in forensic detail by Japanese and British scientists.
A leading British specialist in forensic anthropology has been investigating battle wounds sustained by medieval Japanese warriors almost 700 years ago. Working with Japanese colleagues, Dr Michael Wysocki of the University of Central Lancashire?s School of Forensic and Investigative Sciences, has found evidence of sword and arrow wounds, ritualized coup de grace death blows, and even evidence of Samurai heads being taken as trophies by their enemies.
The newly analysed evidence, which was presented by Britain?s Channel 4 in a documentary called Samurai: Back From The Dead earlier this week, shed important new light on the origins of Japan?s Samurai warrior tradition.
Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net
- Weapons Maker To The World: Meet The Go-to Man For Battle Attire
On the outskirts of New Delhi, in a cramped concrete workshop where the air shimmers with the light of welding torches, an Indian businessman has become a master craftsman of Napoleonic swords. And medieval chain-mail armour. And Second World War hand...
- Bones Of Leper Warrior Found In Medieval Cemetery
The bones of a soldier with leprosy who may have died in battle have been found in a medieval Italian cemetery, along with skeletons of men who survived blows to the head with battle-axes and maces. Studying ancient leprosy, which is caused by a bacterial...
- Second Scroll Depicting 'wako' Pirates Found To Be Held By Beijing Museum
The National Museum of China in Beijing holds a picture scroll very similar to one in Japan that was until now thought to be the only pictorial record of the medieval "Wako" pirates, it has been learned. "Wako" is a name meaning "Japanese invader," used...
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The Late Gothic Hall at The Cloisters museum and gardens ? The Metropolitan Museum of Art's branch in northern Manhattan for medieval art ? has reopened this week after an extensive five-year renovation. Returning to public view for the first time...
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