International Journal of Paleopathology

OBJECTIVE: To provide a comparative baseline for future studies of oral pathology in domestic livestock and to better understand connections between lesion prevalence and biological context in past animal populations. MATERIALS: Over 1600 sheep and cattle mandibles recovered from archaeological sites in England between 500 and 1300 CE. METHODS: A comprehensive investigation of periodontal disease was conducted based on four characteristics: dental calculus; periosteal new bone formation; alveolar recession; and ante-mortem tooth loss...

OBJECTIVE: A malformed pectoral joint of the middle Devonian antiarch fish Asterolepis ornata is described, and a survey of congenital malformations in the fossil record is provided. MATERIALS: The specimen of A. ornata (MB.f.73) from Ehrman in Latvia, stored at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germany. METHODS: A. ornata was macroscopically and radiologically investigated, and the overview on congenital malformation was based on an extensive literature survey...

OBJECTIVE: This study presents evidence of a probable case of holoprosencephaly with cyclopia, which has been rarely reported in the paleopathological literature. MATERIALS: The skeletal remains of a male fetus between 36 and 40 gestational weeks from the Collezione Antropologica LABANOF (CAL) Milano Cemetery Skeletal Collection were studied. METHODS: The bones were macroscopically examined, and pathological anomalies were recorded and evaluated alongside paleopathological and clinical literature...

OBJECTIVE: This paper seeks to review the possibilities and difficulties in identifying rare diseases in ancient animals. Rare diseases are important in human medicine but seldom discussed in modern veterinary practice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 1348 pathological archaeozoological remains, most published in the literature, are evaluated. With the exception of a few animal burials, the majority were recovered from food refuse: deposits composed of co-mingled, single bone fragments...

OBJECTIVE: This study considers the evidence for elevated frequencies of "rare" diseases in ancient Panama. Indications of population isolation by multidisciplinary sources allow for the possibility that rare inherited conditions may have been maintained at relatively high prevalences in the region due to gene flow restriction. MATERIALS: A sample of 267 skeletal human remains with diverse demographical characteristics from Pre-Columbian archaeological sites throughout Panama...

OBJECTIVE: Was cancer a rare disease in the past? Our objective is to consider the various terminological, theoretical, and methodological biases that may affect perceptions of the rarity of cancer in the past. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We discuss relevant malignant neoplastic biomedical and paleopathological literature and evaluate skeletal data. We selected 108 archaeological sites (n = 151 cancer cases) with published malignant neoplasms and that were amenable to calculating cancer crude prevalence...

OBJECTIVE: Differential diagnosis and tabulation of cases of dental agenesis in Middle and Upper Paleolithic Western Eurasian humans to synthesize this data and to test previous hypotheses about when recent human patterns of third molar agenesis were established. MATERIALS: 139 Late Pleistocene human remains and 149 individuals from three Epi-Paleolithic/ Holocene non-agricultural comparative collections. METHODS: All remains were visually and radiographically recorded by the author...

OBJECTIVE: To assesses the patterns of age-related changes and bone pathologies in modern non-draft cattle to assist archaezooological analysis of draft cattle remains from antiquity. MATERIALS: The study area is located in the steppe zone of the Southern Urals on the territory of Russia near the border with Kazakhstan. METHODS: Over 300 bones of modern cattle were examined, mostly metapodials and phalanges, using standard archaeozoological methods to reconstruct the size of animals and to describe observed pathological conditions RESULTS: Minor lipping and exostoses of metapodials and phalanges, as well as ankylosis and hip joint eburnation, are common in modern non-draft cattle...

OBJECTIVE: This study describes the first evidence of a probable paleopathological case of leprosy from northern Portugal. MATERIALS: An adult male, skeleton 403, exhumed from the Christian cemetery associated with the church dedicated to Saint Mamede (Travanca, Santa Maria da Feira), dated from the 17th-19th century AD. METHODS: Standard bioarchaeological methods were used for sex and age-at-death determinations, and leprosy-related bone lesions were identified through macroscopic analysis guided by paleopathological diagnostic criteria...

OBJECTIVE: Detecting traces of ancient DNA of Vibrio cholerae to provide genetic information associated with the fifth cholera pandemic. MATERIALS: Sediment samples from the sacral foramina of four individuals were analyzed, recovered from a mass grave near an institution dedicated exclusively to the isolation and treatment of citizens infected with cholera in the late 19th century in the city of Cordoba, Argentina. METHODS: Paleogenetic techniques (ancient DNA extraction, PCR amplification, and Sanger sequencing) were applied...

OBJECTIVE: This study discusses the challenges and possibilities of establishing a definition for Ancient Rare Diseases (ARD) in a probable case of Legg-Calvé-Perthes Disease (LCPD) from the Bronze Age cemetery Kudachurt 14, situated in the Northern Caucasus. MATERIALS: We investigated the skeletal remains of a male aged 35-45 years at death. For comparison we examined other males buried at Kudachurt 14 (n = 24) and reviewed 22 LCPD cases from the paleopathological literature...

OBJECTIVE: This paper reviews paleo- and archaeoparasitology publications to date, from Iran. The primary focus is the importance of differential diagnosis and the crucial role of interdisciplinary collaborations among parasitologists and other specialists. METHODS: All relevant articles and theses published in Iran through October 2020 are included and evaluated, with particular emphasis on the diagnostic process. RESULTS: Archaeoparasitic studies in Iran have identified a number of parasites that provide insight into the past...

OBJECTIVE: By applying a joint medico-historical and paleopathological perspective, this paper aims to improve our understanding of factors influencing past vitamin D deficiency in ten Dutch 17th to 19th-century communities of varying socioeconomic status and settlement type. MATERIALS: Vitamin D deficiency is evaluated in 733 individuals of both sexes and all age groups: Silvolde (n = 16), Rotterdam (n = 23), Rhenen (n = 24), Noordwijkerhout (n = 27), Gouda1and 2 (n = 40; n = 59), Roosendaal (n = 51), Den Haag (n = 93), Hattem (n = 113), and Beemster (n = 287)...

OBJECTIVES: This research focused on osteoarthritis (OA) lesions on modern patients to 1) identify consistently observed lesions not included within current paleopathological measures of OA, 2) assess the correspondence of bone and cartilage lesions with clinical OA diagnostic criteria, and 3) discuss the correspondence of bone lesions with sources of pain reported in clinical literature. MATERIALS: Tibial plateaus from 62 patients undergoing total knee replacement surgery due to OA were examined...

OBJECTIVE: To reconstruct the etiology of a perimortem injury observed on a Neolithic - Chalcolithic cranium (5060 - 4400 yrs cal. BP). MATERIALS: A cranium of an old adult male individual belonging to a collective burial from Cova Foradada site (Calafell, Tarragona, Spain). METHODS: The cranium was analyzed macroscopically and microscopically using micro-CT scan. RESULTS: The fracture on the right parietal bone presents characteristics of perimortem trauma...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate lesions on a cranium from the Iberian Peninsula and assess its medico-historical and paleopathological significance. MATERIALS: The skeletal remains of a juvenile individual found in a Medieval Islamic grave (10th -16th century) in Eastern Spain. METHODS: Macroscopic examination of the left and right temporal bones, binocular microscopy, X-ray, and Scanning Electron Microscopy - Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) were performed...

PURPOSE: To examine a possible case of Paget's disease of bone (PDB) in an Indigenous pre-contact male from Canada, individual D of the Skinner site in Ontario. METHODS: Radiographs, CT scan and histological analysis. RESULTS: The histological analysis revealed the mosaic pattern that characterizes PDB. CT scans show advanced sclerosis of the cranium and a diminished diplӧe with osteolytic lesions. CONCLUSIONS: The pathological features that have been identified are collectively characteristic of PDB...

OBJECTIVE: To re-analyze one of the oldest cases of malignant bone neoplasm with different analytical techniques. MATERIAL: The available skeletal remains of grave 138 (G138) from the Iron Age necropolis of Münsingen-Rain (Switzerland, 420-240 BC). METHODS: The bones are analyzed by means of morphological, radiographic, histological, and biogeochemical methods. RESULTS: The individual, a male aged between 35-50 years old, presents morphologically and radiographically a previously described coral-like bone neoformation on the proximal left humerus...

OBJECTIVE: To encourage the use of different methodological approaches for the identification of paleopathological lesions and to evaluate osteolytic lesions found on a temporal bone from La Llana cave (Spain). MATERIALS: Cranial remains recovered from from La Llana cave (Spain) dated to the Bronze Age, 3300 ± 25 BP (1631-1509 cal BC). METHODS: The cranium underwent macroscopic, microscopic and computed tomography scan examinations...

OBJECTIVES: This paper aims to provide an explicit theoretical model for the cognitive processes involved in paleopathological diagnosis. METHODS: The approach adopted is a dual process model (DPM). DPMs recognize that cognition is a result of both Type 1 (intuitive) and Type 2 (analytical) processes. DPMs have been influential for understanding decision-making in a range of fields, including diagnosis in clinical medicine. Analogies are drawn between diagnosis in a clinical and a paleopathological setting...