A Severe Case of Biparietal Thinning in a Medieval Skull From a Northern Italy Necropolis.

ABSTRACT: This study aims at presenting a case of symmetrical and bilateral thinning observed in a skull belonging to the skeleton of a mature woman from the medieval cemetery of Caravate (north Italy). Macroscopical, radiological, and histological analyses were performed to investigate the condition. The analyses allowed us to detect a progressive loss of both the outer table and the diploe, and the sparing of the inner table. As a controversial condition in the clinical and paleopathological literature, this case poses some difficulties in discussing the differential diagnosis. However, the sex determination, estimation of the age-at-death and different characteristics observed at the level of the postcranial bones, in particular the fractures recorded on different vertebral bodies, allowed us to correlate the biparietal thinning found in this subject to ageing and osteoporosis.

A possible case of "kissing" osteochondroma and multiple enchondromas in a medieval skeleton from the church of Sant' Agostino in Caravate (Northern Italy).

This work presents the neoplastic bone changes found in the lower limb of a medieval skeleton from the church of Sant' Agostino in Caravate (Northern Italy). After briefly assessing the individual's overall pathological picture, a differential diagnosis for the neoplastic changes is now proposed. These changes were analysed macroscopically and radiographically and subsequently evaluated considering the paleopathological and clinical literature available. The differential diagnosis allowed us to recognize a tibiofibular osteochondroma and some enchondromas in the medullary cavity of the tibia. The results presented here highlight the importance of radiological analyses in the recognition and study of bone neoplasms in the paleopathological field, further contributing to our knowledge of the presence of neoplasms in Medieval Northern Italy.

Osteological evidence of metabolic diseases from a post medieval North Italy archaeological site.

Skeletal lesions related to metabolic diseases in children have been systematically investigated in paleopathological literature only in recent years. This work presents an infant pathological specimen from the post-medieval cemetery of the St. Mary's Nativity church (15th-18th centuries, Segno, Trento, Trentino, Northeast Italy). The bones belonged to an individual of 9 ± 3 months of age, estimated upon an assessment of the stage of dental eruption. Metabolic diseases were diagnosed with paleopathological criteria according to previous literature. Differential diagnosis of the osteological evidence indicates a disease that might be caused by the lack of vitamin D or C. Comorbidity of vitamin C and D deficiency has been widely studied in clinical literature, particularly in children between 3 months and 5 years of age. The study of ancient osteoarchaeological materials allows us to improve our knowledge on diseases' effects on bone development in children and, in this case, it represents additional evidence of the presence of metabolic diseases in a rural contest of the Italian post-medieval period.