The late mediaeval necropolis of Alcedar. Anthropological data

Abstract

In 2015, at Alcedar, a village located in northeastern Bessarabia, on the bank of the Dniester, six burial graves were discovered by chance. These tombs are part of a late Mediaeval cemetery, belonging to the old place of worship, i.e. the wooden church attested in Alcedar in 1807 in the Parish registers of Bessarabia. The defuncts were buried according to the Christian ritual. The analyzed osteological material comes from six individuals: an adult man, four adult women and a sub-adult with a biological age of 11–12 years. At dental level, several epigenetic traits were determined (hypodontia, microdontia, variations in the number of cusps and roots), a position anomaly (version) and pathologies (dental caries, supragingival calculus and antemortem tooth losses). On the bone elements, identified as belonging to the category of epigenetic traits were the metopism, the sternal foramen, multiplication and enlargement of the mental foramen and the preauricular sulcus. Among the ossification abnormalities, spina bifida occulta has been identified. Regarding the anomalies acquired during life (pathologies), mention should be made, on the joint surfaces, of osteoarthritis. Physiological stress markers were detected on the skull (porotic hyperostosis), on the tibia (periosteal changes/ reactions) and on the dental crowns (linear enamel hypoplasia). A series of physical activity stress markers appear on the limbs. The results of the anthropological study bring new information about the health and lifestyle of a rural community having lived in the late medieval period, in poor conditions, on the right bank of the Dniester.

Keywords

• alcedar
• late mediaeval period
• anthropological data
• anomalies and pathologies
• health status