Kaakutja Trauma

The death of Kaakutja: a case of perimortem weapon trauma in an Aboriginal man from north-western New South Wales, Australia, published by Cambridge University Press, delves into how biological anthropology was used to date the remains of an Aboriginal man and discover how he may of have died. The article first introduces the problem by explaining that a skeleton has been found in New South Wales that exhibits fatal trauma evidence. At first glance it would seem the fatal trauma is indicative of a sharp metal weapon, but the burial site was dated to be 600 years before European settlers reached the area and introduces steel weapons. So the main question is, which weapon was used to kill this victim? Could a wood weapon inflict the same damage as a steel weapon?
Kaakutja, the Aboriginal remains found in New South Wales, …show more content…
Occasionally, some additional meaning is added to an academic article by the paper, but that is rare. If anything, this media report only helped simplify beyond the respectable limit the research that went into the Kaakutja case. As stated earlier, the original academic article not only describes and dates the burial site of Kaakutja but gives an anatomical description, describes the patterns of antemortem and perimortem trauma, and discusses the overall findings. In the media report a large portion of the scientific process of getting to the conclusion was blocked out and instead was replaced with more emotional or sentimental commentary. The article not only left out a large portion of how the authors came to their conclusion, but the media report treated everything as concrete information even when the authors of the academic article said that it may be something else. While it is no crime to simplify a paper to make it more manageable to the public, it is when the media report cherry picks information in order to sensationalize the