A multidisciplinary assessment of disability in early medieval Culmen, Poland

Abstract

This study bridges a gap between palaeopathology and the textual analysis, with the aim of investigating whichdiseases and pathological lesions could have been associated with disability in Early Mediaeval Culmen in Poland.We used palaeopathological methods to examine 661 skeletons, as well as reviewed Early Mediaeval hagiographiesand chronicles. The textual analysis revealed three types of disability: mobility difficulties, an abnormal posture, and blindness, which were also identified in the osteological materials from Culmen. Eight skeletons display lesions corresponding to Pott’s disease, poliomyelitis, leprosy, osteomyelitis, multiple myeloma, and amputation, which were identified as disabilities. The prevalence of disability depended on the age, with adults affected more frequently. This interdisciplinary study is the first to analyse people with disabilities on a population level, using textual sources and osteological materials from mediaeval Central Europe. The protocol forresearch on disability in archaeology presented by us may be applied to other archaeological contexts, also from sites outside Poland, from historical periods of time.