A. Buzhilova:
Sunghir 1
Detailed description of the indicators of physiological stress in an adult man buried at the Sunghir site has been facilitated by good preservation of bone remains.
Dental attrition is uniformly distributed even in the front teeth. Because of the attrition crown heights are low and the presence of enamel hypoplasia is difficult to detect. Nevertheless, on the preserved parts of the tooth crowns traces of hypoplasia are not detected. All teeth are healthy, none are carious or paradontic. Dental calculus is absent.
In the upper part of a metopic suture, close to the anterior fontanel there is a fragmentary craniostenosis of about 31 mm long, caused either by premature obliteration or abnormal absence of a fragment of the metopic suture. It is known that anomalies of cranial sutures formation can be forced by different reasons such as endocrine disfunctions, antenatal infections, consequences of birth injures, metabolic disorders like rickets, hypophosphatasia and hyperthyroidism.
Among morphological variations of long bones, the bending of forearm bones in medio-distal direction should be noted. In the lower extremities diaphyseal curvatures are mostly expressed in medio-distal direction for fibulae bones and in anterio-posterior for both femora, the fibulae being more bent on the right side while the femora - on the left. The X-ray analysis of the tibiae revealed Harris lines, which were more pronounced in the distal part of the bones but of no important length in the proximal part.
The curvature in the diaphyses of some tubular bones as well as the presence of partial cranistenosis are of importance. Though those features are not very well pronounced, together with the presence of Harris lines on the tibiae they can be considered, with some degree of approximation, as a set of traits indicating to some metabolic disorder experienced in childhood and influenced by several factors.
Sunghir 2
On the front tooth crowns there is a marked defect of enamel development - enamel hypoplasia. Reconstructed age at appearance and development of this anomaly suggests an approximate interval of 3 to 6 years. No caries or dental calculus is found. On the radiogram of one of the thoracic vertebrae in the lower third of the spine, on its lateral left surface a sclerotised area has been registered and first described by A.I.Bukhman (1984). It should be further noted that this area is autonomous without any osteoporotic traces around its perimeter. The diameter of the area does not exceed 3-4 mm (view picture 1). The other vertebral bodies show evidence of destruction of the anterior bodies but there is no evidence of bone repair and the edges could easily be the result of postmortem breakage. The discussed area on the spine may indicate to a certain infectious process that the individual had gone through early in life. Its localisation gives some grounds to suggest a possible inflammation of one of the lumbar muscles resulting, e.g. from some bacterial infection. However, no other traces of the inflammatory process can be seen either on the ribs preserved, or on vertebrae, which casts serious doubts on the presence of specific bacterial infection but does not exclude the possibility of staphylococcal or streptococcal infections developed as a result. The brucellosis, echinococcosis, and mycotic infection are also possible. Given the link between most of the diagnostic options and domestication of various animals, the early date of brucellosis and tuberculosis would be troublesome for a diagnosis but mycotic infection is possible.
Sunghir 3
On the front tooth crowns there is a marked defect of enamel development - enamel hypoplasia. Reconstructed age at appearance and development of this anomaly suggests an interval of 3 to 6 years, the lines being most frequently formed at the age of 3-4.5 years. No caries is found. On the last maxillary left molar black dental calculus is slightly present. Masticatory surface of deciduous molars reveals the extensive occlusal attrition, which probably indicates to early consumption of coarse-fibre and firm food.
The analysis of morphological variations shows a significant anterior-posterior bend of both femora with their flattening in the mid-shaft. Great trochanters have high position. The extent of femora bending is symmetrical and close to pathological values. As for tibiae and fibulae bending, it lies within the variation range. However, the diaphysis of the right tibia is bent almost twice as much as of the left one. To estimate an extent of pathological bending for both femora an angle of the femur neck has been calculated with the value of 125°, which lies within normal variation range. Physiological bending might have been the most probable cause of pathology.
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