Palaeopathological study of five individuals from the late antiquity cemetery at dravlje

Abstract

Skeletal remains from archaeological contexts represent a good source of information about the human past. As part of the osteological analysis, palaeopathology plays an important role, sig-nificantly complementing the biological profile of an individual and demographic structure of the studied population. Nevertheless, it seems that paleopathological studies in Slovenia are rather scarce. Thus, the presented results of the osteological and paleopathological analysis of five skeletons from Late Antiquity cemetery at Dravlje represents a step towards filling this gap. In addition to basic biological profiles of individuals, the observed pathological changes and other skeletal variations are described and possible diagnoses presented. Despite a small number of analysed skeletal remains, there was an abundance of observed anomalies. This clearly shows how significant paleopathological studies are for understanding the society, while at the same time confronting researchers with numerous new questions. Besides congenital skeletal variations, such as septal aperture or a high number of pyramidal molars, intentional cranial deformation and numerous pathological changes, from benign tumours and teeth diseases, possible metabolic diseases and bacterial infection to joint diseases, early tissue ossification and unusually high number of torticollis were observed. The limited number of analysed skeletal remains does not allow the gathered conclusions to be applied to the whole population. Nevertheless, it is obvious that people living in that society had some unusual customs, health issues and/or were of different ethnicity.