Diagnosis: death due to fire

The remains of a female individual that came to light at the El Pueyo de Marcuello site are kept in the Museum of Huesca. For more than a year, exhaustive analyzes have been carried out that have resolved the mystery of her death. The forensic medical team of the Aragón Health Research Institute composed of Dr. Salvador Baena, Dr. Ana Cisneros and Dr. Jesús Obón have subjected the remains of the human individual found in the excavations to a scrupulous analysis to obtain data on its gender. , age, pathologies and above all the cause of death

After an exhaustive forensic study, the human individual found in violent circumstances at the site of The Village of Marcuello return to Huesca Museum, a place where they guard, restore and investigate the abundant objects and structures of this interesting Iron Age town located very close to Linás de Marcuello, in the municipality of Loarre.

We are talking about an action that is part of a research project of the Museum of Huesca (Government of Aragon) that has José Fabre as scientific director of the archaeological excavations project and with the collaboration of the Loarre City Council. This project goes ahead thanks to the support of our institutions, but it also shows the extraordinary commitment of each of the people involved, from the General Directorates of Culture and Heritage of the Government of Aragon, Loarre City Council and each of the students. participants, passing through the management of the Museum of Huesca, as the promoter of the project and the dedication of its team, as well as the Museum of Zaragoza, with the dedication of its curator. The commitment and effort of the technicians who continue working with the materials some time later to restore them, expose them to the public and make them available to all citizens stands out, the work carried out in the Museum of Huesca being fundamental. It is, therefore, a long-term process in which many parties involved work in coordination with the same objective: the conservation and dissemination of our Cultural Heritage.

Today we dedicate this entry to a transcendental issue. For more than a year, the forensic medical team of the Aragón Health Research Institute composed of Dr. Salvador Baena, Dr. Ana Cisneros and Dr. Jesús Obón have subjected the remains of the human individual found in the excavations to a scrupulous analysis. to obtain data on their gender, age, pathologies and, above all, the cause of their death.

Previously, he stopped for a few days at the Zaragoza Museum for a complete photographic report by our specialist photographers: Omar Pedraza and José Garrido.

As if it were the reconstruction of a crime scene, the curator of Archeology at the Zaragoza Museum and director of the archaeological project, José Fabre, has carefully returned the skeletal remains to the position in which they were found.

The data provided by the forensic experts contextualized with the archaeological knowledge of the site suggests that this woman of about twenty-five years old died from gas inhalation in one of the houses of the Iron Age settlement that was completely destroyed by a fire. Her failed escape due to the smoke was encapsulated by the collapse of the room in which she was probably taking refuge and which turned out to become her final abode.

Without a doubt, this dramatic episode for their loved ones has turned out to be an extraordinary opportunity, rarely materialized, to be able to interpret the last bars of a human community that lived in the middle valley of the Gállego River cultivating, grazing and trading with distant lands towards the middle from the 4th century BC until a fire, caused by an external or accidental attack, buried its history.

Archeology and in this case, Medical science, join hands to recover and transmit it.

For those of you who want to know more, we leave you here access to the brilliant and stimulating work that the Aragón TV program team did a few months ago. Predecessor dedicated to this interesting archaeological discovery, also to the 3D video scanner made by Shu Digital and more information about this project that has been published on our website:

• Link to the program
• Access to the 3D video scanner by Shu Digital
• More information about the archaeological excavations project in El Pueyo de Marcuello.

With this publication we say goodbye to José Fabre, who begins a new path outside this house. This entry is part of an exciting project to which our colleague has dedicated many hours of work, with dedication and enthusiasm. José has combined directing the project with his work as a conservator, first at the Museum of Huesca and later at the Museum of Zaragoza. Those of us who have shared the path with him know that this entry is also fair recognition of his work as an archaeologist, conservator and colleague who, for years, has carried out great work, always rigorous, meticulous and professional in areas that transcend archaeology. Good luck José, we wish you the best.

Photos: Omar Pedraza