Paleopathology

OBJECTIVE: Cribra orbitalia is believed to be a skeletal indicator of chronic anaemia, scurvy, rickets or related metabolic diseases. It has been suggested that it may be used as a proxy indicator for intestinal parasite infection, as parasites often cause anaemia today. Our aim is to investigate this association in the medieval population of Cambridge, UK. MATERIALS: Individuals excavated from the cemeteries of the Augustinian friary and All Saints by the Castle parish church, and aged from 7 to adulthood...

OBJECTIVE: This paper explores dental diseases and wear as a proxy for dietary patterns in Hellenistic-early Roman Menainon. MATERIALS: This study includes 166 individuals (4th-1st c. BCE). METHODS: Carious lesions, dental calculus, antemortem tooth loss, and dental wear were recorded to explore male-female and adult-juvenile differences, and to position Menainon in the broader Hellenistic/early Roman world through comparisons with published data from other sites...

The article introduces the enhancements made to the IsoArcH database for isotope paleopathology. This includes the addition of new metadata fields, which allow for describing abnormal anatomical or physiological conditions in humans and animals at either the individual or sample level. To showcase the novel features of the database, the article features a unique dataset of carbon and nitrogen isotope values obtained on bulk bone collagen from 42 clinically-documented cases of the Jedlička pathological-anatomical reference collection, dating from the 19th century CE and curated at the National Museum in Prague, Czechia...

Tuberculosis (TB) has long been a major scourge of humankind. Paleopathological and paleomicrobiological studies have revealed the past presence of the disease on a large spatial and temporal scale. The antiquity of the disease has extensively been studied in the Carpathian Basin, given its dynamic population and cultural changes since prehistory. These studies, however, have mainly focused on the populations living during the Common Era. The aim of this paper is to present the published and the recently discovered cases of prehistoric TB, from the Neolithic (6000-4500/4400 BCE) to the Bronze Age (2600/2500-800 BCE) Central Carpathian Basin (Hungary)...

The molecular analysis of ancient pathogen DNA represents a unique opportunity for the study of infectious diseases in ancient human remains. Among other diseases, paleogenetic studies have been successful in detecting tuberculous DNA in ancient human remains. In the beginning of ancient DNA (aDNA) studies, the presence of tuberculosis (TB) DNA was assessed using a PCR-based assay targeting specific regions of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) complex, such as the repetitive element IS6110. The advent of high-throughput sequencing has enabled the reconstruction of full ancient TB genomes in the field of paleomicrobiology...

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Skeletal remains of two Neanderthal individuals, a 25-35 year-old woman and a 3-4 year-old child, were discovered in a Subalyuk Cave in North-Eastern Hungary. Radiocarbon dating of the female and child remains revealed an age of 39,732-39,076 and 36,117-35,387 cal BP, respectively. Paleopathological studies of these Neanderthal remains revealed probable evidence of skeletal mycobacterial infection, including in the sacrum of the adult specimen and the endocranial surface of the child's skull. Application of PCR amplification to the juvenile cranium and a vertebra gave a positive result (IS6110) for tuberculosis, backed up by spoligotyping...

In 1932, skeletal remains of two Neanderthal individuals, a young adult female and a 3-4-year-old child, were discovered in Subalyuk Cave in Northern Hungary [1,2]. Results of the anthropological examination were published some years after this important discovery. Methodological progress encouraged re-examination of the material during the last few years. Radiocarbon dating revealed a chronological age of 39,732-39,076 cal. BP for the adult female and 36,117-35,387 cal. BP for the child [3]. Morphological paleopathological studies of these Neanderthal remains uncovered distinct evidence of skeletal infections...

This research explores how the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) in a medieval hospital was affected by the demographic and social changes that following the Black Death (1346-1353 CE), the initial years of the Second Plague Pandemic. To do this, skeletal remains of individuals buried at the Hospital of St John the Evangelist in Cambridge, England, that could be dated to living before (n = 77) or after (n = 55) the Black Death were assessed for evidence of TB (indicated by destructive lesions of the spine, ribs, large joints, and other recognised criteria)...

The causative agent of tuberculosis is still a widespread pathogen, which caused the death of ca. 1.6 million people globally in 2021. The paleopathological study of human remains revealed the antiquity of the disease and its continuous presence throughout the history of humankind. The Carpathian Basin has always been a biocultural melting pot, since it has seen several migrations over the centuries, and served as a location of admixture and interaction for numerous populations of different cultures. Thus, this geographical territory is ideal for the examination of the coevolutionary processes of hosts and their pathogens...

The partial skeleton of a 22-24-year old female from Liushui, Southern Silk Road, Xinjiang (China) was analyzed using morphological and biochemical methods. The most striking finding in this individual of a Late Bronze Age mounted nomadic population was the complete ossification of the caudal vertebral column including parts of the ligaments of this region due to chronic tuberculosis (Pott's disease). The morphological diagnosis is definitely confirmed by the results of the proteomic analysis. The bacterial protein Ag85 and, for the first time in archaeological skeletal remains, also ESAT-6 was detected, which are typical for Mycobacterium tuberculosis...

In this study, we tested the skeletal human remains from the 18th - early 19th century Orthodox cemeteries in Irkutsk, Eastern Siberia, for tuberculosis-associated morphological alterations and Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA. The morphologically studied bone collection included 591 individuals of mainly Caucasian origin. The molecular methods (IS6110-PCR and spoligotyping) suggested that at least four individuals (out of 15 TB-suspected, DNA-tested) were positive for the presence of M. tuberculosis DNA...

Two anthropological collections of the 8-9th century AD from the forest-steppe area of the southern Eastern Europe has been the subject of analysis of the osteo-articular alterations concerning tuberculosis related lesions. According to archaeological data, the Mayaki and Dmitrievka groups are from the territory of Khazar Khaganate, which is well-known by historical data. It was a traditional population with settled pastoral farming. There were studied 292 adult human remains by macroscopic morphological and radiological methods...

Investigations of non-adult remains are particularly suitable for finding epidemic periods in past populations. This study presents a probable unique example of osseous manifestation of tuberculosis on a child's skeletal remains from medieval Hungary. Between 2009 and 2011 the Field Service for Cultural Heritage excavated the exceptional cemetery of Perkáta - Nyúli-dűlő in Hungary, with around 5000+ graves. The analysed skeleton (SNR 948) was located in the medieval (10-16th century) part of the cemetery...

Molecular phylogeny work has shown that tuberculosis is ancient human-adapted infection predating the Neolithic period. They also show that the Upper Paleolithic is a key period of emergence of the MTB complex strains, contemporary with the exit of modern man from Africa. Despite the richness of Upper Paleolithic sites in Eurasia and the relative abundance of human remains, the only proven case of Paleolithic tuberculosis has been described so far date from the Azilian, a culture of the European Final Paleolithic, which is more recent than the ancient Neolithic sites of the Near East, area that currently hold the record for the oldest paleopathological evidence of tuberculosis...

OBJECTIVE: Ancient remains tell a lot to those who can solve their mysteries. Mummified remains of individuals have the potential to tell their life stories. Pathological conditions in mummies are identified, commonly, thorough macroscopic inspection and radiological techniques. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In 2017, a hypogeum tomb was excavated close to the courtyard of Djehuty's tomb (TT11) at the archaeological site of the Spanish Djehuty Project in Luxor (Egypt). In Sector 10, a set of at least 10 mummies were recovered...

OBJECTIVE: This study explores the presence and prevalence of working Rangifer tarandus tarandus (domestic reindeer) through entheseal changes present in Rangifer tarandus phalanges at the Sámi habitation sites of Juikenttä and Nukkumajoki, located in Finland and dating from the 14th to the 18th centuries. MATERIALS: Modern samples (n = 23 phalanges, Rangifer tarandus fennicus; n = 60 phalanges, Rangifer tarandus tarandus non-working; n = 72 phalanges, Rangifer tarandus tarandus working) with known life histories...

OBJECTIVE: The promontory of the middle ear was recently suggested to be an appropriate site for diagnosing otitis media (OM) in archaeological bones by endoscopic inspection. The present study scrutinized the underlying assumption that a bulgy, irregular promontorial surface represents a pathological condition. MATERIALS: We compared an allegedly healthy individual and an allegedly diseased individual in skeletal remains of two human individuals from the early Medieval period in Germany...

OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the fifth case of a mature ovarian teratoma reported in the bioarchaeological literature, contributing to the temporal and geographical distribution of known examples of this unusual pathology. MATERIALS: An 18-21-year-old female found in situ within a multi-chambered subterranean tomb in the North Desert Cemetery at Amarna, Egypt (founded c. 1345 BCE) was recovered associated with a multi-lobed roughly ovoid calcified mass and two associated teeth identified within the pelvic cavity...

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...