Abstract
Traumatic injuries can be used as general indicators of activity patterns in past populations. This study tests the hypothesis that contemporaneous (10th–12th century) rural and urban populations in medieval Poland will have a significantly different prevalence of non-violent fractures. Traumatic injuries to the post-cranial skeleton were recorded for 180 adults from rural Giecz and for 96 adults from urban Poznań-Śródka. They were statistically analyzed by body region and individual skeletal element. Results reveal that Giecz had a significantly higher rate of trunk fractures than Poznań-Śródka (Fisher’s exact, p<0.05). In particular, rib and vertebral fractures were more common in Giecz males and females than in their Poznań-Śródka counterparts. Traumatic injuries in the extremities were comparable between the two samples, suggesting similar risks of trauma to these regions. These results indicate that in early medieval Poland, activities associated with a rural lifestyle resulted in more injuries. These stress or accidental fractures, which are related to a high-risk setting, were not consistent with an urban lifestyle. Overall, agricultural populations like Giecz were engaged in a laborious lifestyle, reflected in a variety of injuries related to repetitive, high-risk activities. Although urban populations like Poznań engaged in craft specialization participated in repetitive activities, their lifestyle resulted in lesser fracture-risk.
Highlights
Trauma is commonly observed in archaeological skeletal samples and represents bony injuries experienced by an individual during his/her lifetime
Fractures are commonly used in paleopathology to identify insults to the individual, but it is rare that fractures are used to assess population-based insults, especially those that are non-violent in nature [1]
Forty-nine percent (88/180) of adults from Giecz suffered some type of traumatic injury, while only four percent (4/96) of adults suffered fractures in the Poznań-Śródka sample
Summary
Trauma is commonly observed in archaeological skeletal samples and represents bony injuries experienced by an individual during his/her lifetime. Activity patterns and behavior differentially impact the skeleton, especially in terms of traumatic injuries. Fractures are commonly used in paleopathology to identify insults to the individual, but it is rare that fractures are used to assess population-based insults, especially those that are non-violent in nature [1]. While it would be insightful to learn specific occupations people were engaged in, an attempt at making such a connection with identified skeletal changes would not be without huge limitations [2].
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