A Neolithic skull lesion probably caused by an arrowhead

Abstract

An incomplete frontal bone exhumed from the collective burial of Dolmen de Ansiao (district of Leiria, Portugal) dated to the end of the Neolithic, presented on his left side, behind the orbit, a healed injury. No signs of infection or any kind of complication are visible. A possible diagnosis for this lesion is a trauma caused by an arrowhead which, if confirmed, would be the first one reported for a prehistoric Portuguese site.