Interpretation of injuries detected on the frontal bone of a male skull from Sungir grave

Checking the preservation conditions of the bones from a male in Sungir grave 1 provided an opportunity to identify a mismatch between the injuries on the skull frontal bone and the traces left by a spade used during the discovery of grave 1. This triggered a study of the injuries with the use of computer tomography and traceology methods. The paper explores the history of Sungir 1 skull discovery and its cleanup, providing a detailed classification and stratigraphy of injury traces on the skull frontal bone left by various objects in prehistory, in the course of excavations and in the laboratory. The data obtained allowed the authors to conclude that a through hole of an elongated almondlike subtriangular form on the frontal bone can be interpreted with confidence as a lifetime penetrating injury of the head which caused death of this Sungir man.