We Found Deformed English Skeletons On a Sunken Ship
Their bones were all bent out of shape for one surprising reason
The Mary Rose carrack-type warship was pulled out of the waters near the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom in 1982, after its discovery in 1971. It was a significant archaeological finding— described by British historians as a very valuable “Tudor-era time capsule.”
The ship had been sunk in 1545 after serving in King Henry VIII’s navy. It defended Britain from a French invasion force and had over 700 soldiers on it when it went down. Since the ship sunk deep into the silt of the ocean, the remains of the people and objects on it were preserved quite well.
Some of the most important archaeological findings on the ship, and the ones we will talk about in this article, were 92 human skeletons — many of which were deformed —, 172 longbows, and 4,000 arrows.
What We Didn’t Know About Longbows and Archers
British longbows, or “war bows,” were considered a superweapon during the Medieval ages. Despite that, many historians claimed that their power was exaggerated as the results described in old manuscripts could not be reproduced by modern replicas of longbows.
