The Scottish soldier whose skull was crushed by a trebuchet: Skeleton found at Stirling castle is first confirmed victim of trebuchet attack

Scientists have found the remains of a soldier in Scotland's Stirling Castle who may be one of the unluckiest people in history.This man in his 20s has the dubious honour of being the first confirmed victim of a trebuchet attack, according to evidence presented at the European meeting of the Paleopathology Association.These fearsome weapons of war are similar to a catapult, and capable of hurling a projectile weighing more than 100kg (15st) hundreds of feet over castle walls.Now archaeologists have uncovered the grisly reality of what happens to someone unfortunate enough to catch a direct hit from one of those flying stones.The soldier, known to scientists as skeleton 150, bears the evidence of an enormous, high-velocity impact that shattered his bones and pinned him to the ground.Dr Jo Buckberry, from the University of Bradford, found more than 160 different fractures on the 5ft 2in remains.The skull was cracked in 61 places, there was a deep zigzag break on the shoulder, and nearly 60 bizarre jagged breaks on his ribs.Dr Buckberry told the Daily Mail: 'The scale of the fractures of his body suggest his death was thankfully instantaneous.' A skeleton of a soldier found in Scotland's Stirling Castle has been identified as the first confirmed victim of a trebuchet attack, which broke their skull (pictured) in 60 places The soldier, who is believed to have been in his 20s, suffered a massive zig-zag fracture to the left humerus (left) and had their right femur (right) broken into pieces During the siege, English forces deployed the largest trebuchet ever constructed, a terrifying weapon known as War Wolf . Pictured: A modern reconstruction of War WolfSkeleton 150 was discovered in 1997, when scientists unearthed the graves of nine skeletons beneath the chapel in Stirling Castle.Five of these were found to date back to the early 1300s, and all bore the injuries and cut marks that indicated violent lives and deaths.However, those signs of violence were hardly surprising, given that Stirling Castle was besieged and changed hands five times between 1296 and 1304, when it finally fell to English forces.The end of the 13th century was an extraordinarily violent time, as Scotland waged a bloody war of independence against the English.Stirling Castle was located on a key road towards Edinburgh, and was often seen as the gateway to Scotland, making it a prime target for attack.Working alongside researchers from Historic Environment Scotland, Dr Buckberry found that the skeletons beneath the chapel bore cut marks, penetrative injuries, and blunt force trauma.This indicated that they likely died in battle but what made them so unusual was that they were buried in graves within the castle's chapel, rather than outside the walls.Together, these pieces of evidence suggest that they might have fought and died in the final siege of 1304, when Edward I deployed a vast force against the castle. Scientists believe that the soldier was killed during the siege of Stirling Castle in 1304, when King Edward I attacked the Scottish forces inside (artist's impression) What is a trebuchet? A trebuchet is a type of medieval siege engine used to hurl heavy objects over long distances.It works by using a long wooden arm mounted on a pivot, with a sling attached to one end.A heavy counterweight on the opposite end drops rapidly, causing the throwing arm to swing upwards.The sling then releases its projectile at high speed towards the target.Trebuchets were mainly used to attack castles and fortified towns, often by smashing walls or launching objects over defences.They became especially important in medieval warfare from around the 12th century, before gradually being replaced by gunpowder artillery. However, that didn't explain the absolutely baffling level of injury that skeleton 150 seemed to have sustained.'These kinds of fractures are seen in high velocity incidents these days,' says Dr Buckberry.'car crashes, falls from 20 metres plus with nothing to break the fall, and people hit by trains.''I can rule out a fall because the way certain bones have broken suggests the person was standing up, crouching or walking or running when the trauma happened. 'Obviously we can rule out cars and trains in the middle ages - so it's thinking about what is heavy, and moving that fast in the 13th and 14th centuries.'She soon found the answer hidden in historical accounts of the battle, which revealed that the siege of 1304 had witnessed the rise of a new, and awe-inspiring weapon.Historical accounts report that English forces led by Edward I deployed trebuchets, which were a relatively new invention at the time.In particular, the English deployed a trebuchet named 'War Wolf', which is believed to be the biggest trebuchet ever built. The stone thrown by an English trebuchet (artist's impression) broke the soldiers skull in 61 places, left a deep, zigzag break on the shoulder, and caused nearly 60 bizarre, jagged breaks on his ribsContemporary accounts describe the trebuchet launching a stone that flew through the castle's two stone walls 'like an arrow flying through cloth'.If skeleton 150 had a direct impact from one of those stones, it is no wonder that his bones bear such striking breaks.Dr Buckberry calls this 'the most logical conclusion'.She adds: 'You've have to be unlucky - siege engines were deployed to destroy the walls of a castle and either force a surrender or allow the attacking army into the castle. 'They won't have had particularly precise aims, as the target was a castle, not a person.'