A unified descriptive method for analysing artificial cranial deformation from a palaeopathological perspective

Abstract

The study’s goal is to propose a unified descriptive method for analysing artificial cranial deformation (ACD) in order to achieve consistent descriptions as well as to document the modification from a palaeopathological perspective. A number of examinations have dealt with the fact that ACD can either directly cause or predispose the formation of pathological and neurological lesions. The bulk of earlier studies only have focused on one or a few deviations in detail. The basic research aim was to assemble all previously described lesions which could be related to ACD; in addition, a further deviation undescribed as yet is also noted. Present and ongoing studies enable the development of a unified approach for the observation and description of ACD. Authors also suggest a data collector sheet based on previously published morphological alterations. This study makes an attempt to serve as a basis or a first step towards creating a general, standardized method to detect pathological alterations on ACD skulls and to distinguish ACD and non-ACD skulls from each other. In this paper, pathological consequences of ACD in ten individuals excavated from two contemporaneous cemeteries dated to the Hun-Germanic Period (fifth–sixth century AD) were investigated in an attempt to elucidate pathological lesions caused by ACD and to shed light on the possible connections between the type or the extent of deformation and the lesions appearing on ACD skulls. X-ray recordings were used to generate more accurate results, while previously used methods and recommendations were also applied in accordance with special literature.