Paleopathological analysis of changes on animal bones originating from archaeological sites Caricin Grad and Studenica Monastery

Abstract

This work presents the estimation of incidence and analysis of paleopathological changes on skeletal remains of the animals from archaeological sites Caricin Grad and Studenica Monastery. Moreover, there has been carried out the assessment of the skeletal elements, as well as taxonomic and age determination. The total of 2595 bones or bone fragments were examined. In 22 specimens there were noticed various abnormal skeletal changes in following animal species: cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, donkeys and camels. Pathological changes were noticed on the teeth, mandibles, joints of long bones and phalanxes. By macroscopic analysis of these acquired pathological changes on bones of the animals, there was determined that the observed lesions had had proliferative, hypertrophic and chronic character. Proliferative changes on the bones of the cattle, horses, donkeys and camels point out to the fact that these animals were used for towing and/or load carrying. Identified diseases of oral cavity in small ruminants point out to improper and inadequate nutrition of these animals in the past.

U ovom radu izvršena je procena zastupljenosti i analiza paleopatoloških promena na skeletnim ostacima životinja sa arheoloških nalazišta Caričin grad i manastira Studenice. Pored toga, izvršeno je određivanje skeletnih elementa, kao i taksonomska i starosna odredba životinja. Ukupno je pregledano 2595 kostiju ili fragmenata kostiju. Kod 22 primerka uočene su različite abnormalne koštane promene i to kod sledećih vrsta: goveče, ovca, koza, svinja, konj, magarac i kamila. Patološke promene zapažene su na zubima, mandibulama, zglobovima dugih kostiju i falangama. Makroskopskom analizom stečenih patoloških promena na životinjskim kostima ustanovljeno je da su primećene lezije uglavnom imale proliferativni, hipertrofični i hronični inflamatorni karakter. Proliferativne promene na kostima goveda, konja, magarca i kamile ukazuju da su ove životinje korišćene za vuču i/ili nošenje tereta. Utvrđene bolesti usne duplje kod malih preživara ukazuju na nepravilnu i neadekvatnu ishranu za vreme života ovih životinja u prošlosti.