ANTARIKSA — A new study finds a woman suspected of being enslaved was executed with a sharp weapon in what is now Indonesia’s Papua province. Although only the victim’s skull remained for analysis, it was revealed the woman was between 26 and 42 years old when she was murdered.
“Several sharp force trauma injuries were identified on the anterior, temporal and occipital bones of the skull,” the researchers wrote in a paper published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology on September 16, 2023.
This woman lived during the colonial period in Indonesia, namely the period between the 16th century and the mid-20th century, when Indonesia was colonized by various European countries, especially the Netherlands. The skull was discovered on Biak Island in 1935 by scientists from Airlangga University.
“The year and the word ‘Biak’ were written on the skull,” the researchers wrote.
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The research team used digital and ultraviolet photography to examine the wounds on the skull. However, it is still difficult to distinguish whether the skull belongs to a victim of inter-tribal warfare or a slave murder victim.
“However, execution-style wounds to the skull supports left the woman kneeling or sitting and unable to actively defend herself,” said the paper’s author, Rizky Sugianto Putri, a forensic anthropologist at Airlangga University who was contacted Live Science via email.
For your information, during the colonial period, Europeans carried out slave raids and arrested local residents. The Dutch, who controlled Indonesia for most of this period, practiced widespread slavery.
It is possible that the woman was killed in the raid. The research team noted that female shamans known as ‘mon’ were highly sought after during Dutch raids. This gave rise to suspicions that the woman was the witch in question.
The identity of the killer is also unclear. “We don’t know who the killer is yet. “However, the sharp object trauma wound is thought to be a machete, a weapon commonly used by Papuan tribes during the colonial period,” said Rizky.
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There is still little research conducted on the traces of death of people in Indonesia from the colonial period. Rizky hopes their paper and subsequent research can shed more light on how humans lived and died during that period. Source: Live Science
2023-12-25 09:15:00
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