Playa Venado Skull (IMAGE) Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Caption One of two cases of healed blows to the cranium from the Playa Venado excavations. Most of the evidence of violence was interpreted by Harvard archaeologist, Samuel Lothrop based on body positioning in graves at the site. Smithsonian post-doctoral fellow, Nicole Smith-Guzmán, found no examples of trauma that occurred near the time of death among the skeletons in the collection. Credit Nicole Smith-Guzmán, STRI Usage Restrictions Credit: Nicole Smith-Guzmán, STRI License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.