The Dark Side of Medieval Siege Warfare: A Glimpse into the Brutality of the Past The recent study on a 700 year old skeleton found in Stirling Castle's ruins is a sobering reminder of the brutal tactics employed by medieval armies.
Researchers have pieced together a grim picture of life and death during siege warfare, and their findings are striking and unsettling: this could be the earliest known victim of a trebuchet.
Trebuchets were massive siege engines capable of launching projectiles weighing over 140 kilograms. They were often built to intimidate defenders as much as to breach walls and fortifications.