Trebuchet
A trebuchet is a kind of medieval catapult that uses a gigantic weight attached to a lever and ropes to whip a projectile long distances.[1] They were mainly used for sieges, i.e. breaking stone walls and demoralizing defenders.
Scientists excavating skeletons buried at Stirling Castle concluded they were buried during a seige in 1304.[1] They concluded one young man had died when he was struck by a projectile from a trebuchet. His injuries - blunt force trauma, were similar to those found in modern traffic accidents. A trebuchet known as "Warwolf", which may have been the largest trebuchet ever built, was present at the seige, and he may have been killed by one of its projectiles.
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1
K. R. Callaway (2026-08-20). "A 14th-Century Skeleton Had Injuries That Looked Like a Car Crash. What Killed Him?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
The extensive injuries to this smashed skeleton, called Skeleton 150 by archaeologists, suggested to researchers that the bones were most likely broken by the high-speed and high-force impact of a trebuchet projectile. The finding was presented at the 25th meeting of the Paleopathology Association, which was held earlier this month in Berlin.