Traumatic Injuries in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Population from Łekno, Poland

Agency ‘in itself’. A discussion of inanimate, animal and human agency

“…Some examples: knowledge from geology, mineralogy and petrography is used to understand the properties of stones for tools, and the effects of volcanic eruptions (Sigurdsson, Cashdollar and Sparks 1982; Goldberg and Macphail 2006; Zastawnya et al 2013); botany provides understandings of the use and domestication of plants and agricultural developments; palynology augments studies of prehistoric climate and diets (Molloy and O’Connell 2004; Moe et al . 2007); zoology and ethology are used to understand animal characteristics (including the agency of animals), for analyses of hunting, domestication and other interactions with animals (see references above); biochemical DNA analyses are mandatory for studying human evolution (Ovchinnikov et al 2000; Dalton 2010); dentistry, physiology and pathology are used to estimate age, sex, nutritional aspects, disease and causes of death from human bodily remains (Prag and Neave 1997; Piontek and Vančata 2012; Myszka, Piontek and Miłosz 2012); and cognitive psychology and neuropsychology highlight the cognitive processes connected to the cultural changes occurring in the Upper Palaeolithic (Renfrew and Zubrow 1994; Corballis and Lea 1999; Wynn 2002).…”

“…But it is vital, in addition to archaeology, to employ anthropology and science of religion for the qualitative analysis of the cultic and ritual aspects of mortuary practices. An understanding of natural and cultural contexts is dependent on knowledge in both the ‘hard’ sciences and humanistic sciences (Piontek and Vančata 2012; Myszka, Piontek and Miłosz 2012; Nilsson Stutz 2010). Fourth, archaeoacoustics is a new transdisciplinary field.…”

Trauma patterns and injury prevalence in early medieval Säben‐Sabiona, Italy

“…Various authors argue that the predominance of observed bone damage relates to injuries obtained through accidents associated with daily activities with high trauma risk factors (Gerhards, 2007;. Bioarchaeological research by Gilmour et al (2015), Mant (2019) and Myszka et al (2012) show that a significant amount of bone trauma is attributable to labour-related accidents. However, as shown in the literature (e.g., Caffell & Holst, 2012;Šlaus et al, 2012;Smith, 2017), violence-related trauma seems to be common in past societies, especially during periods of political changes.…”

Múltiplas fraturas presentes num esqueleto de uma mulher idosa proveniente do cemitério dos Remédios, Évora

“…As lesões traumáticas encontram--se entre as condições mais observadas nos esqueletos, afetando o esqueleto de várias formas, das quais as fraturas são as mais comuns (Ortner, 2003). A sua etiologia inclui violência acidental ou intencional, práticas culturais ou terapêuticas, ou condições patológicas, que aumentam a vulnerabilidade do osso a stress biomecânico (Lovell, 1997;Larsen, 2002;Ortner, 2003;Myszka et al, 2012). No trauma acidental, estão incluídas a maioria das fraturas e luxações, enquanto no trauma intencional contam-se, por exemplo, as intervenções cirúrgicas ou ferimentos de arma (Lovell, 1997).…”

“…A localização das fraturas, o seu tipo e o grau de cicatrização podem dar informações sobre a sua etiologia, assim como sobre a existência e qualidade dos cuidados médicos ou até acerca do estado nutricional (Jurmain, 2001;Hofmann et al, 2010;Van der Merwe et al, 2010;Myszka et al, 2012). Estas lesões fornecem também informações valiosas sobre aspetos ocupacionais, comportamentais, socioculturais e até ambientais da vida dos indivíduos e das populações (Ortner e Putschar, 1981;Van der Merwe et al, 2010;Myszka et al, 2012).…”