Sonia Díaz-Navarro , María Haber Uriarte , Rebeca García-González
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
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. C14 dating has also been obtained. The lesion has been analysed macroscopically and microscopically using SEM.
Results
The skull under study belonged to an adult female deposited in the second burial phase (2566–2239 years cal BCE). It exhibits in the anterior region of the right temporal fossa two contiguous and partially overlapping holes that correspond to two trepanations performed using the scraping technique.
Conclusions
It is a double cranial trepanation with signs of bone remodelling suggesting survival from surgery. No pathological signs were identified potentially associated with the intervention.
Significance
This is the second case of surgical interventions in the geographical area of study and one of the few evidences of this practice in women during prehistoric times.
Limitations
So far only the articulated skeletons from this burial have been thoroughly analysed.
Suggestions for further research
Further intensive review of skull collection is advised to learn more about these surgical interventions in Copper Age and to go deeper into the causes that motivated their execution.
目的分析伊比利亚半岛东南部一个集体墓葬遗址的史前钻孔新证据。在Camino del Molino的铜石器时代墓葬遗址中发现了被穿孔的个体,其中1348个个体(30.7%为非成年个体,69.3%为成年个体)在两个连续的墓葬阶段被埋葬,使其成为了解史前人口的参考地点。方法采用传统人类学方法和古代DNA对个体进行性别鉴定。还得到了C14定年法。用扫描电镜对病变进行了宏观和微观分析。结果该头骨属于一名成年女性,埋于第二葬期(公元前2566-2239年)。右侧颞窝前区显示两个连续且部分重叠的孔,对应于使用刮削技术进行的两次钻孔。结论双颅钻孔伴骨重塑,提示术后存活。没有发现可能与干预相关的病理体征。这是研究地理区域内的第二个手术干预病例,也是史前时期女性手术干预的少数证据之一。局限性:到目前为止,只有来自这个埋葬的关节骨骼得到了彻底的分析。建议对颅骨收集进行进一步深入的研究,以了解更多关于铜器时代这些手术干预的信息,并深入探讨其实施的原因。
期刊介绍:
Paleopathology is the study and application of methods and techniques for investigating diseases and related conditions from skeletal and soft tissue remains. The International Journal of Paleopathology (IJPP) will publish original and significant articles on human and animal (including hominids) disease, based upon the study of physical remains, including osseous, dental, and preserved soft tissues at a range of methodological levels, from direct observation to molecular, chemical, histological and radiographic analysis. Discussion of ways in which these methods can be applied to the reconstruction of health, disease and life histories in the past is central to the discipline, so the journal would also encourage papers covering interpretive and theoretical issues, and those that place the study of disease at the centre of a bioarchaeological or biocultural approach. Papers dealing with historical evidence relating to disease in the past (rather than history of medicine) will also be published. The journal will also accept significant studies that applied previously developed techniques to new materials, setting the research in the context of current debates on past human and animal health.