ПАЛЕОПАТОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ ИНДИКАТОРЫ «КАЧЕСТВА ЖИЗНИ» ДЕТЕЙ СРУБНОГО ВРЕМЕНИ ЮЖНОГО ПРИУРАЛЬЯ

Abstract

This article presents results of paleopathological study of non-adult skeletons from three Srubnaya culture cemeteries (Karanaevskiy, Nikolaevskiy and Chumarovo-1) located in the southwest of the Republic of Bashkortostan. The analyzed sample includes skeletal remains of 41 individuals from burials dated to the 1600–1400 BC. In this study solely skeletal pathologies are discussed without dental pathologies. The following groups of pathologies were recorded: abnormal cortical porosities and subperiosteal new bone formation, endocranial lesions, traces of chronic sinusitis, mastoiditis and otitis media, as well as markers of “physical stress” (including skeletal traumas). This work attempts to assess the “quality of life” of the non-adult Srubnaya culture population of the Southern Ural. The sample is characterized by an underrepresentation of infants and young children and increased proportion of adolescents, indicating that the burial grounds were formed according to some socially selective principles. The studied group is characterized by the absence of macroscopical manifestations of specific infections and reliably diagnosable cases of scurvy or rickets. High frequencies of anemia markers (cribra orbitalia) and chronic maxillary sinusitis are likely indicative not of a maladaptation, but, on the contrary, of the good enough adaptation of the non-adults of the Srubnaya culture population to the environmental factors. Well expressed “physical stress” markers (cortical defects, osteochondritis dissecans and Schmorl’s nodes), observed for the studied osteological sample, suggest that children as young as 6–7 years old were likely involved in household activities.