Analysis of cribra orbitalia in the earliest inhabitants of medieval Vilnius

• Authors: Šarūnas Jatautis , Ieva Mitokaitė , Rimantas Jankauskas

Abstracts

EN

The purpose of this work is to present an analysis of cribra orbitalia (CO) from the population of a medieval cemetery in Vilnius, Lithuania, dated between the end of the 13th to the beginning of the 15th centuries. The sample consisted of 208 individuals with sufficiently preserved orbits: 82 subadults and 122 adults. CO was correlated with sex, age-at-death, and three skeletal indicators of biological health: linear enamel hypoplasia, periostitis, and adult femur length as a proxy value for stature. Siler's and Gompertz-Makeham's parametric models of mortality as well as χ2 statistics were used to evaluate these relationships. Almost one-third of all analyzed individuals had signs of CO, including approximately 60% of the subadults. There was a very strong relationship between the age-at-death and incidence of CO, i.e., individuals with the lesion were dying much younger. The frequency of CO among the sexes was not statistically significant. On the other hand, CO had a negative effect only on adult males, i.e., males who had the lesion died at a younger age. Furthermore, CO and linear enamel hypoplasia were positively related for subadults, whereas no significant relationships were found among adults of corresponding sex. Incidence of periostitis and adult stature were not related to CO.

PL

Celem tej pracy była analizacribra orbitalia(CO) w populacji ze średniowiecznego Wilna (Litwa), zbadanej na podstawie próby szkieletów z cmentarzyska datowanego od końca XIII do początków XV wieku. Podstawowe charakterystyki paleodemograficzne tej próby (208 osobników, w tym 82 młodocianych) zawiera tabela 1. Zbadano korelację CO z płcią, wiekiem w chwili śmierci i trzema kostnymi wyznacznikami zdrowia - hipoplazją szkliwa zębowego (LEH), śladami zapalenia okostnej i wysokością ciała (dorosłych). Do oceny zależności wykorzystano parametryczne modele umieralności Silera i Gompertz-Makehama oraz statystykę χ2.Prawie 1/3 badanych osobników (32%)wykazywała CO, w tym 60% osobników młodocianych (zmarłych przed 15 rokiem życia). Ponadto analiza wykazała wysoką zależność między tą cechą a wiekiem w chwili śmierci - osoby ze śladami CO umierały znacznie młodziej (Fig. 1, 2). Może to sugerować, ze ważnym czynnikiem podnoszącym ryzyko zgonu wśród osobników młodocianych była anemia. Co więcej, jeśli nie są to ślady remodelowania, mogą one sugerować, że stresujące wydarzenia z dzieciństwa wpłynęły także pośrednio lub bezpośrednio na przeżywalność osób dorosłych. Choć u dorosłych kobiet CO występowały nieco częściej niż u mężczyzn, różnica nie była istotna. Z drugiej strony, CO miały negatywny wpływ tylko na dorosłych mężczyzn (umierali oni młodziej). Być może kobiety miały więc sprawniejszy układ odpornościowy. Innym wyjaśnieniem mogłaby być śmierć bardziej wrażliwych na ten czynnik dziewcząt w wieku młodocianym. CO pozytywnie korelowały z LEH u młodocianych, podczas gdy istotnych korelacji u dorosłych nie stwierdzono (tab. 2). Można sądzić, że młodociane i słabe osobniki z cechą CO, z większym prawdopodobieństwem miały LEH. Tak więc interakcje obu czynników sygnalizowanych obecnością cech CO i LEH mogły być odpowiedzialne za skracanie życia młodych osobników.Periostitisi wysokość ciała w badanej próbie nie wykazywały związku z CO (tab. 2).

Keywords

EN

mortality; health; Late Middle Ages; Lithuania

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Anthropological Review
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 74
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 57-68

Contributors

author

Šarūnas Jatautis

• Department of Anatomy, Histology and Anthropology, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Čiurlionio 21, Vilnius LT 03101, Lithuania

author

Ieva Mitokaitė

• Department of Anatomy, Histology and Anthropology, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Čiurlionio 21, Vilnius LT 03101, Lithuania

author

Rimantas Jankauskas

• Department of Anatomy, Histology and Anthropology, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Čiurlionio 21, Vilnius LT 03101, Lithuania

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Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10044-010-0006-z