International Journal of Paleopathology最新文献

Objective

Materials

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Significance

Limitations

Suggestions for further research

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.

Results

Industrial Archaeology has seen a recent refocus to include not only a concentration upon technological aspects of industry but also increased emphasis the social context of industrialisation. This movement toward a placement of people as well as machines centre stage has resulted in an environment conducive for paleopathology to make a greater impact upon studies of the period.

Conclusions

Palaeopathologists need to ensure that their biocultural work is orientated toward research goals of broader relevance if the impact of their work is to be maximised. We cannot directly align prevalence data generated from skeletal and and written sources; roles played by these two sources of evidence will depend, inter alia, upon the problems being investigated.

Significance

The success of ‘Industrial Palaeopathology’ will be measured by the extent to which human remains studies move toward centre stage within the broader discipline of Industrial Archaeology.

Limitations

Multiple perspectives on disciplinary development are possible. Academic traditions, relationships between university- and threat led-sectors, and the opportunities and challenges engendered by working with human remains, differ in different countries.

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. In one case, CT analysis was undertaken.

Results

The estimated average age at death was between three and four years old. Tooth fracture, periodontal disease, the presence of non-vital teeth, and brachycephalic skull form were found in the sample. Tooth resorption was unexpectedly noted.

Conclusion

The study provides valuable insights into the dental health of dogs in the Roman era. Compared to modern dogs, Roman dogs examined in this study appear to have a shorter lifespan but display a high rate of pathological dental disease, while disease patterns were very similar to those of modern dogs. Dogs with pronounced brachycephalic features were found.

Significance

This pilot study is the first to use standardized clinical examination and recording techniques to assess dental health in dogs from archaeological contexts. It provides insight into the dental health of Roman era dogs and offers data upon which cross-populational studies can be initiated.

Limitations

The sample size and geographic location of the archaeological sites were limited.

Suggestions for further research

Subsequent standardized studies, preferably in as many different Roman Empire regions as possible, are recommended.

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.

Methods

Observers assessed each cranium macroscopically according to its assigned set of guidelines.

Results

Observer concordance was higher using scoring guidelines with higher-quality photographs, such as the 2019 guidelines from Rinaldo and colleagues.

Conclusions

Data collection guidelines with high-quality color photos may support greater reliability of researcher-generated data on macroscopic skeletal features.

Significance

The conclusions of any research study are only as reliable as the data on which they are based. This work highlights the need for ongoing practices of quality control in a field in which much data results from individual judgement calls.

Limitations

Observer concordance is not a measure of observer accuracy. Sample size is insufficient to draw broadly generalizable conclusions on the reliability of data collected using the guidelines tested, and conference environments are not a facsimile of research settings.

Suggestions for further research

Iterative testing of methodological consistency using larger sample sizes and more non-pathological crania is advised to identify the factors that influence observer discordance and to improve guidelines for qualitative assessments.

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. Sex-based differences were also found in all skeletal assemblages with males likely engaging in physically more demanding tasks.

Conclusions

The variation in mechanical stress, and associated physically demanding tasks, between these populations can be attributed to their differing political and economic status during the Roman period; textual sources highlight the economic and political dominance of Beirut and Tyre, emanating from their status as coloniae.

Significance

This study represents one of the first attempts to investigate mechanical stress in coastal Phoenicia during the Roman period. It provides valuable insights into the biocultural structure of understudied communities at the periphery of the Roman world, and can serve as a basis for further future research into the occupational patterns of Phoenician communities.

Limitations

The contextual information for these skeletal populations is very limited and does not allow secure conclusions regarding their representativeness. The sample sizes are also rather small, especially when divided per sex and age.

Suggestions for Further Research

Further investigation employing complementary methods such as cross-sectional geometric properties and entheseal changes is needed to reconstruct the occupational patterns of these communities, taking into account cultural, environmental, and temporal factors.

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.

Results

Symmetrical extensive periosteal new bone formation on the diaphyseal and metaphyseal regions of this individual’s long bones; the lower limbs were more extensively and severely affected than the upper limbs and the distal segments were more severely altered in comparison to the proximal ones.

Conclusions

The macroscopic and radiological features are highly consistent with a diagnosis of secondary HOA.

Significance

The excellent state of preservation allowed the evaluation of rarely noted skeletal manifestations of HOA and provided insight into aspects of rural life in medieval Italy.

Limitations

Molecular analysis was not successful in sequencing the aDNA of tuberculosis, therefore the underlying primary cause of secondary HOA, whether pulmonary or extrapulmonary, remains obscure in this case.

Suggestion for the future research

It is advisable to regularly revisit the data available from osteoarchaeological collections in order to identify further cases of HOA, along with to further investigate the known cases to search for the underlying primary disease.

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.

Results

Ascaris sp. eggs were detected in pelvic samples from seven individuals.

Conclusions

These findings may indicate that this parasite was endemic. Its detection frequency is one of the highest reported at group level in an osteological series from Late Antiquity.

Significance

The prevalence of Ascaris sp. associated with skeletal remains has implications for assessing the lifestyle and health of populations in southern Spain during the Late Antique period.

Limitations

The number of individuals is small and taphonomic processes could have limited paleoparasitological findings

Suggestions for further research

Future interdisciplinary studies of this type are warranted in larger osteological series to improve knowledge of parasitosis in the past.

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.

Results

Trepanation was detected in two adolescents aged 14 and 20 years; no evidence of their survival was observed.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that trepanation was carried out in rural areas as Valdepeñas in the 16th-18th centuries, where the selection of instruments indicates knowledge of contemporaneous medical treatises.

Significance

The present study provides new data on trepanation and how it was performed in adolescents during this period.

Limitations

Understanding the motive for these interventions is highly challenging in the absence of bone lesions, and their occurrence is likely underestimated due to the scant research in skeletal remains from the early Modern Age.

Suggestions for future research

Further palaeopathological analyses of osteological collections from this period will provide more information about how this surgical technique was perfected.

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. Basic chemical analysis eliminated calcium carbonate as a constituent material.

Results

Based on comparison with previously published examples from the archaeological and clinical literature and careful differential diagnosis, it is suggested this object is a bladder stone.

Significance

A brief discussion of the implications of bladder stones on individual health and broader epidemiological constraints to illustrate the depth such discoveries can bring to our understanding of ancient lived experience concludes the work.

Limitations

The burial of Ind. 286 was disturbed. The identification of a bladder stone presumes the stone would have been found within the pelvic cavity, which cannot be confirmed. Other graves in the vicinity of this grave were also disturbed. It is unlikely, but still possible, that the stone originated from another grave and was relocated to this grave after disturbance. Full chemical analysis was not possible.

Suggestions for future research

Radiographic and chemical analysis would provide more information to strengthen the certainty of the differential diagnosis.

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.

Results

Alterations included: osteophytes in Toxodontidae, Megatheridae and E. laurillardi; rough subchondral bone, bone overgrowth and bone erosion in E. laurillardi; slit-shaped subchondral depressions in Equidae and E. laurillardi; and a triangular-shaped porous lesion in Mylodontidae.

Conclusions

The alterations found allowed the recognition of the first cases of osteoarthritis for Toxodontidae and articular depressions for Equidae, and new cases of both diseases in Eremotherium laurillardi; a new case of osteochondritis dissecans for Mylodontidae; potential new cases of calcium pyrophosphate deposition and spondyloarthropathy for E. laurillardi

Significance

Our results provide additional evidence that calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease was widely spread among species of the South American megafauna and suggest that osteochondritis dissecans may have been relatively common among ground sloths.

Limitations

The identification of calcium pyrophosphate deposition and spondyloarthropathy in E. laurillardi are quite tentative because the evidence found is ambiguous and the number of examined specimens is limited.