SHORT REPORT Penetrating Spinal Injury: An Extraordinary Case of Survival in Early Neolithic Siberia A. R. LIEVERSE, a * D. M. L. COOPER b AND V. I. BAZALIISKII c a Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5B1, Canada b Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E5, Canada c Department of Archaeology and Ethnography, Irkutsk State University, Irkutsk 664003, Russia ABSTRACT This paper presents the first archaeological case of long-term survival following a penetrating spinal injury. The afflicted young adult male individual was recovered from an Early Neolithic hunter-gatherer cemetery in the Baikal region of Siberia (Russian Federation), dating back nearly 8000 years. The second or third lum- bar vertebra exhibits a lithic projectile point embedded in the right lamina, extending most of the way through the vertebral foramen, with evidence of extensive, if not complete, healing indicating survival for at least sev- eral months. Micro-computed tomography imaging is used to non-destructively visualize both the point and the bone in order to better understand the nature of the traumatic event, as well as the immediate and long-term complications associated with this grave injury. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key words: arrow wound; projectile trauma; spinal injury; Baikal; Siberia; Neolithic Introduction Some of the least refutable evidence for past interper- sonal violence, and in particular violence with lethal in- tent, is the presence of weapons injuries on human remains (Judd and Redfern, 2012; Jurmain, 2005: 214–215; Lambert, 1997, 2002; Walker, 2001). This is especially true for projectile injuries because the weapons that cause them are not only ‘designed to kill’ (Lambert, 1997) but, with the exception of modern era firearms, are also virtually impossible to discharge acci- dentally. Documented cases of projectile wounds on archaeological human remains are relatively uncom- mon, not in the least because soft tissue structures, rather than bone, are likely to have been the intended targets (Judd and Redfern, 2012; Jurmain, 2005: 214–214; Letourneux and Petillon, 2008; Milner 2005; Schulting, 2006; Smith et al., 2007). Whilst projectile injuries are most often found on the thorax or abdominal region of the body (Milner, 2005), these are also the most likely to be fatal because of potential damage to vital organs, major blood vessels or the spinal cord (Bill, 1862; Meggitt 1977; vanGurp et al., 1990). Indeed, in the archaeological literature, only a handful of projectile wounds to this part of the skeleton have been recorded in which the injury was antemortem, with reactive or remodeled bone indicat- ing survival beyond a few days (Wilson, 1901; Jurmain, 2001; Jurmain et al. 2009; Polet et al., 1996; Vegas et al., 2012; Tur et al., 2016). None of these antemortem cases have involved a penetrating spinal injury (PSI). Here, we present the first case of antemortem PSI re- covered from the archaeological record. The individual in question was excavated from an Early Neolithic (EN) cemetery in the Baikal region of Siberia (Russian Federation). The second or third lumbar vertebra exhibits a projectile point embedded in the right lamina, extending most of the way through the vertebral foramen, with evidence of extensive, if not complete, healing. We use micro-computed tomogra- phy (CT) imaging to better understand both the nature * Correspondence to: Angela R. Lieverse, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, 55 Campus Drive, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5B1, Canada, 306–966–7097. e-mail: angela.lieverse@usask.ca Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Received 27 July 2016 Revised 2 September 2016 Accepted 29 September 2016 International Journal of Osteoarchaeology Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. 27: 508–514 (2017) Published online 11 November 2016 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/oa.2568