Anthropological characteristics of the skull with syphilitic marks of the 17th – 18th centuries from the Kelgininsky burial ground

Abstract

Background. Significant progress in the medication of syphilis has been achieved for the past century. Now this disease is diagnosed in the early stages. Accordingly the mark of late stages of the syphilis can only be seen on paleoanthropological materials. The object of this work is the detail characteristic of the pathological changes of syphilitic etiology on the skull of the woman (25-35 years old) who lived in the 17th or early 18th centuries in Primokshanie. Materials and methods. The researchable skull was found during archaeological excavations on the territory of the Kelgininsky burial ground belonging by the Mordva-Moksha. The archaeological site is located on the territory of the Zubovo- Polyansky district of the Republic of Mordovia. The burial dates to the 17th - early 18th centuries. The skull was explored visually and by cone-beam tomography. Visualization of results of tomography was realized out using the GALILEOS Viewer program. Results. The most observable changes have been seen in the zone of the outer surface of the frontal squama, the nasal cavity and the osseous palate. The walls of the nasal cavity are deformed, the nasal bones, shells, vomer are destroyed by a pathological process with noticeable sclerosis of the remaining bones; there are traces of healed gumma on the intermaxillary suture of the osseous palate. Moreover, most of the right and left maxillary sinuses were replaced with porous bone. Conclusions. The results of the research show that the method of conebeam tomography is effective for the study of pathological changes on the human skull. The study let to supplement the clinical picture of syphilis in the later stages of the development of this disease. This is of great importance, since the nature of destructive changes in syphilis is greatly variable.

Keywords

• syphilis
• kelgininsky burial ground
• cone-beam tomography
• pathological changes
• destruction
• clinical picture