Palaeoepidemiological Patterns of Trauma in a Medieval Nubian Skeletal Population

✍ Scribed by LYNN KILGORE; ROBERT JURMAIN; DENNIS VAN GERVEN

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 172 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1047-482X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1212(199703)7:2<103::aid-oa319>3.0.co;2-5

✦ Synopsis

Evidence of trauma was investigated in a well-preserved skeletal sample from the Medieval Sudanese Nubian site of Kulubnarti. The skeletal materials derive from two temporally overlapping Christian cemeteries, dating from the sixth to circa the sixteenth century. The available sample consisted of the skeletons of 146 adults which were investigated for fractures of the long bones, crania and the hands and feet, as well as for dislocations and muscle pulls. Results showed a high incidence of long bone fractures, seen especially in the forearm, and involving 33.5 per cent of individuals. Many of these lesions indicated quite severe injury, and an unusually high number of affected individuals (27 per cent) showed multiple long bone involvement. Conversely, only one possible cranial fracture was apparent. Fractures were also found in 13 hand and seven foot elements. In addition, one hip dislocation and evidence of pulled tendons in 11 individuals were also observed. Compared to other similarly controlled samples, the Kulubnarti population stands out for its high prevalence of healed fractures, the high proportion of multiple involvement and the severity of numerous lesions. The forbiddingly harsh and uneven terrain of this region of Nubia was most likely a major in¯uence on the unusually high prevalence and pattern of traumatic lesions in this group.