International Journal of Paleopathology

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluates a case of pseudopathology and the effects that postmortem taphonomic changes and environmental influences can have on bone. MATERIAL: A skeleton of a young male from the early medieval site Staré Město, dated to the 9th-10th century CE. METHODS: The skeletal remains were subjected to detailed macroscopic and X-ray examination, and then a CT scan and XRF analysis were performed. RESULTS: X-ray examination of the mandible revealed unusually dense structures, whose appearance was not consistent with any known pathology...

OBJECTIVES: This article considers the position of palaeopathology of ca. 1750AD onward within the subdiscipline of Industrial Archaeology, and reflects upon the relationship between skeletal palaeopathology and textual sources on disease prevalences. METHODS: It draws upon the author's experience in engaging with threat-led archaeology. It synthesises key elements of palaeopathological literature, emphasising contributions to the IJPP VSI 'Changes in Health with the Rise of Industry', and also the broader literature regarding Industrial Archaeology...

OBJECTIVE: To utilize standardized clinical veterinary methods to analyze dental health in a series of Roman dog maxillae and mandibles and to compare results to modern clinical data. MATERIALS: 28 skulls of juvenile and adult dogs from three archaeological sites in Switzerland and Germany dating to the Roman period. METHODS: Standardized examination was carried out, which included metric radiographic assessment to diagnose oral pathology and estimate age at death...

OBJECTIVE: This paper presents the results of a 2019 Paleopathology Association workshop that tested observer agreement on porous cranial lesion morphology and presence using multiple sets of existing guidelines for data collection. MATERIALS: Sixteen conference attendees of varying osteological experience served as observers. Three crania were assigned to each of four published guidelines for identifying and categorizing lesion morphology, for a total of twelve well-preserved human crania from the National Museum of Natural History Biological Anthropology Collections...

OBJECTIVE: Skeletal populations from Byblos, Beirut, and Tyre were studied to assess mechanical stress along the Roman Phoenician coast. MATERIALS: The sample included 153 adult skeletons. METHODS: Skeletal remains were macroscopically assessed for osteoarthritis, intervertebral disc disease (IDD), and Schmorl's nodes. RESULTS: The Byblos population experienced higher levels of mechanical stress than the Beirut and Tyre ones...

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to provide a detailed evaluation of a case of secondary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (HOA) and to explore insights into the presence and consequences of disease in medieval rural Italy. MATERIALS: The skeleton of a male (US 4405) with an estimated age at death of 51-69 years excavated from the medieval rural site of Pieve di Pava (Siena, Italy). METHODS: Macroscopic and radiological (x-ray, CT) analyses were performed...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of gastro-intestinal parasites in human remains from Late Antiquity (5th - 7th c.) Granada (Spain). MATERIALS: The study included pelvic and cranial control samples from 17 skeletons from the archaeological sites of Los Mondragones (n = 13) and Rafael Guillén (n = 4). METHODS: In the paleoparasitological study, soil samples from pelvic area and cranium were analyzed using the rehydration, homogenization, and micro-sieving method and visualization under brightfield microscopy...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the presence of trepanations in an early Modern Age, skeletal collection documented in medical treatises but infrequently reported in osteological collections. MATERIALS: Analyses were conducted on 387 non-adult crania from the ossuary in the church of the Assumption of Valdepeñas (16th - 18th C.), Ciudad Real, Spain. METHODS: All complete or semi-complete crania of non-adults (aged 3-20 years) were macroscopically examined...

OBJECTIVE: This paper provides a brief history of the publication of calcified biological objects and presents one that was present in the grave associated with a mature adult female buried in the South Tombs Cemetery at Amarna, Egypt (c. 1353-1332BCE). METHODS: Macroscopic examination revealed an ovoid object constructed of concentric layers of a coarse sand-like material oriented around a dense core that lacked evidence of parasites. Microscopic examination revealed the object is composed of densely, yet haphazardly packed, elongated octahedron shaped crystals with no evidence of cellular structures...

OBJECTIVE: This article analyses new prehistoric evidence of trepanation from a collective burial site in the south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. MATERIALS: The trepanned individual was documented in the Chalcolithic burial site of Camino del Molino, where 1348 individuals (30.7 % non-adults and 69.3 % adults) were deposited in two contiguous funerary phases, making it a reference site for the knowledge of Recent Prehistoric populations. METHODS: The individual has been sexed using traditional anthropological methods and ancient DNA...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate pathological changes in fossils from the Brazilian Intertropical Region (BIR), expanding the records of previously reported diseases for representatives of the Quaternary South American megafauna, including taxa not studied in previous works. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We carried out a thorough macroscopic analysis of fifteen unpublished specimens belonging to representatives of the Quaternary megafauna of BIR to identify evidence of pathological alterations...

OBJECTIVES: Distal fractures of the humerus and their complications have rarely been described or analysed in the palaeopathological literature. The objective of this study was to evaluate two cases of distal humeral fracture with associated cubitus valgus observed in two individuals from the context of the Later Stone Age (LSA) in southern Africa. MATERIALS: Skeletal remains of two individuals. A middle-aged female radiocarbon dated to c.160 BP and a middle-aged male radiocarbon dated to c...

OBJECTIVE: Cortisol is a glucocorticoid hormone produced by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis that is regularly assessed in modern human and non-human populations in saliva, blood, and hair as a measure of stress exposure and stress reactivity. While recent research has detected cortisol concentrations in modern and archaeological permanent dental tissues, the present study assessed human primary (deciduous) teeth for cortisol concentrations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-one dentine and enamel samples from nine modern and 10 archaeological deciduous teeth were analyzed for cortisol concentrations via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)...

OBJECTIVE: To identify and interpret computed tomography (CT) findings of postmortem changes in ancient Egyptian child mummies. MATERIALS: Whole-body CT examinations of 21 ancient Egyptian child mummies from German (n = 18), Italian (n = 1), and Swiss museums (n = 2). METHODS: Conspicuous CT findings from prior evaluations with various research questions that were assessed as postmortem changes were classified, and special cases were illustrated and discussed...

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prevalence of respiratory disease in several populations from the Netherlands across different time periods and socioeconomic conditions. MATERIALS: We analyzed 695 adult individuals from six different Dutch contexts of urban and rural settlements dating to different time periods (i.e., early-medieval, late-medieval, post-medieval). METHODS: For each individual, the presence/absence of chronic maxillary sinusitis, otitis media, and inflammatory periosteal reaction on ribs was recorded macroscopically according to accepted methods...

OBJECTIVE: To identify, critically analyse and describe severe bilateral skeletal pathology involving the ossa coxae of an individual from historic era Cape Town. MATERIALS: A single individual from the University of Cape Town's Human Skeletal Repository was analysed under research approval (HREC# 035/2021). METHODS: An osteobiography was constructed, radiocarbon dating and isotopic analyses were conducted. Pathological description and contextualised disability analyses followed, along with differential diagnosis...

OBJECTIVE: Molar incisor hypomineralisation (MIH) is a developmental defect of enamel affecting the first permanent molars and often the incisors and affecting approximately 13% of the current population worldwide. Here, we aim to highlight potential differential diagnoses of MIH in archaeological collections (taphonomic discoloration, amelogenesis imperfecta, fluorosis, rachitic teeth, etc.). METHODS: Causative factors of dental discolourations are identified through a literature review...

OBJECTIVE: To discuss a Neandertal pathological adult first pollical proximal phalanx (I2-104) from the Baume de Moula-Guercy (Ardèche, France) and evaluate the possible causes of this pathology. METHODS: Macroscopic analyses of external features, as well as CT imaging, were used in the analysis RESULTS: The presence of asymmetric eburnation on the distal epiphysis associated with an osteophyte on the palmar surface, as well as the absence of periosteal bone reaction visible on CT images, is consistent with osteoarthritis...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of the ossification of the ligamenta flava (OLF) among skeletal remains from Poland. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 124 skeletons aged 25 years and older were analyzed. The presence and size of OLF were observed macroscopically. OLF was recorded at the cranial and caudal attachment sites of each vertebra. The following factors were analyzed: age at death, sex, and presence of other spondyloarthropathies. RESULTS: The crude prevalence of OLF in the analyzed series was 68...

OBJECTIVE: Paleopathological analysis is combined with ethnohistorical, ethnographic and ethnomedical reports to assess the sociocultural implications for a historical nomadic Bedouin female following her survival of a below-knee amputation and multiple injuries to the stump. MATERIALS: A middle-aged female recovered from a nomadic-style burial dated to the Late Ottoman Period (1789-1918) in Jordan's Wadi ath-Thamad region. METHODS: Macroscopic and radiographic assessment...