A Preliminary Bioanthropological Study of a 16th –17th Century Skeletal Sample, Discovered at the “Vovidenia” Church in Iași (Romania)

Abstract

In this paper, the authors present a preliminary bioanthropological analysis concerning several skeletons discovered and exhumed in 2021 at the “Vovidenia” Church in Iași (Iaşi County, Romania). According to the information provided by archaeological investigations, the skeletons date between the late 16th century and early 17th century. The study focuses only on the reburied human remains discovered in “Unit 1/ Feature 1”, representing only a part of the total number of recovered human skeletons. In this particular feature, 14 skeletons were identified: seven belonged to males (aged between 25–65 years), two belonged to females (aged between 35–60 years), two belonged to children (12–14 years, infans II), and three were indeterminable, due to the very fragmented state of the bones. Biometric and morphological data is precarious, due to the unsatisfactory condition of skeletal preservation. Pathologies, abnormalities and non-metric traits were identified and analyzed: dental enamel hypoplasia, dental caries, radicular remains, radicular cyst, supragingival dental calculus, Wormian bones, osteoarthritis, sacral spina bifida occulta and sacralization.

Keywords

• human skeletons
• 16th –17th centuries
• “vovidenia” church in iași (romania)
• bioanthropology