Peuce (Nov 2017)
Incidenţa şi modelul fracturilor în cimitirul Bisericii Sfântul Sava din Bucureşti
Abstract
The 466 skeletons subjected to this study are part of a group of 676 graves belonging to the St. Sava churchyard cemetery dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The main purpose of this work is an attempt to identify the accidental and/or violent etiology of the bone fractures, following the pattern of the lesions and their incidence according to the sex and age of the individuals. The results obtained have been compared to data from other more or less contemporary sites in Romania and Europe, from both urban and rural areas. The migration of the population in villages in search of a job led to overcrowded cities, the emergence of insalubrious conditions of living and, possibly, to the increase of the violence level in the population of Bucharest. Moreover, historical sources mention the Tatar, Ottoman, Russian and Austrian invasions, which were very likely to negatively influence the quality of life of the population buried in the St. Sava cemetery. The increasing incidence of fractures on the skeletons established as belonging to male individuals, as well as their diversified location on bones may suggest the demanding nature of the professions in which men were involved. Also, the co-occurrence of cubitus and skull fractures only in male individuals may suggest violence against the men of this community.
