5,600-year-old mystery of how a Bronze age man was killed finally cracked
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A Bronze Age man who was shot in the nose over 5,000 years ago has been facially reconstructed for the first time. Scientists also found that contrary to popular belief, the arrow in his face wasn’t the one that killed the Porsmose man, who was first found in 1946, in a peat bog near Næstved, Denmark.
![[N??STVED, ZEALAND, DENMARK Photo shows Cicero Moraes at work. A prehistoric man, shot in the face at close range 5,600 years ago, can be seen for the first time since the bronze age ??? complete with the arrows that killed him (Credit: Cicero Moraes/Pen News) (Pen News ??25, ??15, ??10 online) (Contact editor@pennews.co.uk/07595759112)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_236263348-af78.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Researchers probing his killing rebuilt his likeness from his bones, allowing the world to see his face for the first time since he was killed. Surprisingly the fatal arrow was not the one in his face, but the one in his chest. Forensic facial reconstructions are usually concerned with rebuilding the living faces of the dead using their skulls, but Cicero Moraes, lead author of the new study, said this reconstruction was unique – capturing the death of the subject instead.
![[N??STVED, ZEALAND, DENMARK Photo shows the reconstructed face of the Porsmose man. A prehistoric man, shot in the face at close range 5,600 years ago, can be seen for the first time since the bronze age ??? complete with the arrows that killed him (Credit: Cicero Moraes/Pen News) (Pen News ??25, ??15, ??10 online) (Contact editor@pennews.co.uk/07595759112)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_236263428-2b93.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
He said: ‘The objective is usually to know what the individual’s face looked like. But in the present work, we were also interested in knowing what injuries could have been caused to the anatomical structure. ‘Although the arrow in the face is visually striking and uncomfortable, and could be fatal depending on the situation, it was the one in the chest that hit important structures.’.
![[N??STVED, ZEALAND, DENMARK A prehistoric man, shot in the face at close range 5,600 years ago, can be seen for the first time since the bronze age ??? complete with the arrows that killed him (Credit: Cicero Moraes/Pen News) (Pen News ??25, ??15, ??10 online) (Contact editor@pennews.co.uk/07595759112)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_236263420-b70b.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
The study revealed that the fatal arrow, itself made of bone, had likely penetrated the man’s brachiocephalic vein, aortic arch, and right pulmonary vein, killing him. To complete their work, the authors began by virtually rebuilding the bones of the Porsmose man using photographs and measurement data.
![[N??STVED, ZEALAND, DENMARK Photo shows the reconstructed face of the Porsmose man. A prehistoric man, shot in the face at close range 5,600 years ago, can be seen for the first time since the bronze age ??? complete with the arrows that killed him (Credit: Cicero Moraes/Pen News) (Pen News ??25, ??15, ??10 online) (Contact editor@pennews.co.uk/07595759112)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_236263357-fa16.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
