The Plague Cemetery of Alghero, Sardinia 1582-1583: The Bioarchaeological Study

✍ Scribed by Valentina Giuffra

• Publisher: Archaeopress
• Year: 2022
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 325
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The Plague Cemetery of Alghero (Sardinia, Italy, 1582-1583) presents a bioarchaeological analysis of the individuals exhumed from the cemetery of Alghero, which is associated with the plague outbreak that ravaged the city in 1582-1583. This cemetery revealed a particular burial typology, consisting of long and narrow trenches, each containing multiple inhumations, which attests to a catastrophic event, such as an epidemic with high mortality in a short period of time. Given the rarity of human remains from epidemic contexts buried in trenches, the skeletal sample from Alghero represents valuable material. In fact, no other Italian plague cemeteries have been examined through a detailed bioarchaeological analysis, and the study thus serves as a model for future research. The author examines a series of parameters, starting from the demographic profile of the sample -181 individuals from 15 trenches - and taphonomic analysis, and then analysing stature, dental pathologies, stress indicators, degenerative joint disease, entheseal changes and other pathologies. The study is intended to illuminate a cross section of 16th century Sardinian society in a coastal city through a holistic view, which interweaves the documentary evidence for plague, funerary responses and the health status of the population. The main objective is therefore to shed light on a population which lived during a period of plague, revealing lifestyles, activity patterns and illnesses and providing a significant contribution to the bioarchaeology, palaeopathology, and archaeology of the Italian territory.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Title Page
Copyright page
Contents Page
List of Figures
Preface
Acknowledgements
1 Introduction
1.1 The Plague: historical and biological aspects
1.2 The history of Alghero from the origins to the plague of 1582-83
1.3 The site of Lo Quarter
1.4 The cemetery (end of 13th-beginning of 17th centuries)
1.4.1 Phase 1. End of 13th-first half of 14th century
1.4.2 Phase 2 and 3. Half of 14th-beginning of 16th centuries
1.4.3 Phase 4. The plague cemetery of 1582-83
1.4.4 Phase 5. Late 16th-beginning of 17th centuries
1.5 The collective burials of Alghero: the trenches
1.5.1 Sector 2100
1.5.2 Sector 2500
1.6 Aims of the study
Chapter 1
Introduction
2.1 Materials
2.2 Biological sex estimation
2.3 Age at death estimation
2.3.1 Methods for adult individuals
2.3.2 Methods for non-adults
Chapter 2
Materials and methods
2.4 Taphonomy
2.5 Stature estimation
2.6 Non-metric traits
2.7 Dental pathologies
2.7.1 Caries and abscesses
2.7.2 Dentoalveolar diseases
2.7.3 Dental wear
2.7.4 Dental calculus
2.7.5 Dental malpositions
2.8 Stress indicators
2.8.1 Dental enamel hypoplasia
2.8.2 Cribra cranii and cribra orbitalia
2.8.3 Periosteal reaction
2.10 Entheseal changes
2.9 Degenerative joint disease (osteoarthritis)
2.11 Pathologies
2.11.1 Traumatic conditions
2.11.2 Auricular exostosis and osteophytosis
2.11.3 Other pathologies
2.12 Statistical analysis
3.1 Demography
Chapter 3
Results and discussion
3.2 Taphonomic analysis
3.2.1 Position of the corpses
3.2.2 Grave goods
3.3 Stature
3.4 Non-metric traits
3.5 Dental pathologies
3.5.1 Caries and abscesses
3.5.1.1 Adults
3.5.1.2 Non-adults
3.5.2 Dentoalveolar diseases
3.5.3 Tooth wear
3.5.4 Dental calculus
3.5.5 Dental malpositions
3.6 Stress indicators
3.6.1 Dental enamel hypoplasia
3.6.2 Cribra cranii and cribra orbitalia
3.6.3 Periosteal reaction
3.6.4 The ‘Osteological Paradox’
3.7 Degenerative joint disease
3.8 Entheseal changes
3.9 Pathologies
3.9.1 Traumatic conditions
3.9.2 Osteochondritis dissecans
3.9.3 Auricular exostosis and osteophytosis
3.9.4 Infectious diseases
3.9.4.1 Osteomyelitis
3.9.4.2 Mercurial teeth
3.9.4.3 Brucellosis
3.9.4.4 Enlarged foramina on the anterior portion of the vertebral bodies
3.9.5 Rheumatoid arthritis
3.9.6 Tumors
3.9.7 Congenital diseases
3.9.7.1 Craniosynostosis
3.9.7.2 Atlas occipitalisation
3.9.7.3 Posterior arch defect of the atlas
3.9.7.4 Klippel-feil syndrome
3.9.7.5 Other congenital defects of the spine
3.9.7.6 Possible Camurati-Engelmann disease
3.9.7.7 Subluxation of the hip
3.9.8 Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis
Chapter 4
Conclusions and future perspectives
1. Methods
2. Age and sex of the individuals
3. Taphonomy
4. Stature data
Chapter 5
The catalogue of the individuals of each trench
Trench 1
Trench 2
Trench 3
Trench 4
Trench 5
Trench 6
Trench 7
Trench 8
Trench 9
Trench 10
Trench 11
Trench 12
Trench 13
Trench 14
Trench 16
References
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