SKULL BONES FROM LACHISH

Skull fragments excavated outside the walls of ancient Lachish

A trepanated skull excavated at Lachish. At the time of the battle, trepanation had already been practised for thousands of years.

The person seems to have survived an operation before or during Sennacherib's siege, since the bony tissue around the gap in the skull has healed. However, they died during the taking of the city, or were executed soon after and buried in the mass grave outside the city walls.

After a city had been subdued, captives were sorted according to their usefulness.

Strong young men were often given the option of serving in the army of the conqueror - the Assyrian kings used ex-enemies as subsidiary forces in the armies: wagon drivers, assistants to the engineers, etc.

Women of child-bearing age and healthy children were spared, to be used as slaves.

The elderly and the sick were killed.

The owner of the skull was presumably among this last group.