Medieval residents of a Scottish castle suffered "brutally violent" deaths, new research has shown.
New tests were carried out on nine skeletons discovered at Stirling Castle in the 1990s.
They were buried underneath a lost royal chapel dating from the 12th century.
Radiocarbon dating found that the people probably died in a series of incidents between the 13th century and around 1450. New tests have shown that at least five of them met bloody ends.
Archaeologists said they probably died in sieges, skirmishes or battles around Stirling during the Wars of Independence.
Stirling Castle changed hands several times in the Wars of Independence, sometimes being held by the Scots, sometimes by the English.
The tests, carried out at the University of Bradford, showed one man, aged between 26 and 35, endured some 44 skull fractures from repeated blows with a blunt object, and up to 60 more across the rest of his body.
And a woman, aged between 36 and 45, had 10 fractures to the right side of her skull, resulting from two heavy blows.
Neat, square holes through the top of her skull suggest she may then have fallen and been killed with a weapon such as a war hammer.
Richard Strachan, Historic Scotland's senior archaeologist, said: "It was unusual for people to be buried under the floor of a royal chapel and we suspected that they must have been pretty important people who died during periods of emergency - perhaps during the many sieges which took place."
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