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5. TO THE QUESTION OF DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIFIC INFECTIONS AMONG RURAL MEDIEVAL POPULATION IN RUSSIA: THE CASE OF ROZHDESTVENO CEMETERY (15TH–16TH CENT. AD)

TO THE QUESTION OF DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIFIC INFECTIONS AMONG RURAL MEDIEVAL POPULATION IN RUSSIA: THE CASE OF ROZHDESTVENO CEMETERY (15TH–16TH CENT. AD)

Shvedchikova Tatiana (1), Berezina Natalia (2)

1) Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia; 2) Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

Shvedchikova Tatiana, e-mail: tashved@gmail.com; Berezina Natalia, e-mail: berezina.natalia@gmail.com.

Аннотация

Our study was based on the osteological material from a rural cemetery of the settlement Rozhdestveno I (Odintsovo, Moscow region). The material was obtained due to salvage excavations in 2006-2007 under the direction of Mikhail Gonyanyi. The burial site could be dated by the 15th-16th centuries AD according to the mass material and specific artefacts. Totally, 152 burials have been studied. Most of them were redeposited. This fact argues for the prolonged use of the same cemetery clusters partly due to the limitation of the dwellings existing on the border. High percentage of children’s mortality (42%) and the analysis of the stress markers on the skeletons of adult individuals permit to suppose the unfavorable living conditions in the community. Both among males and females (totally in 12.6% of cases), there is a complex of features which allows us to speak about a specific infection (treponemal). The most remarkable manifestations were found on the female skeleton (20-29 years old, burial 122). In spite of partial preservation and in some cases taphonomical destruction of the compact bone layer, we found substantial changes of the bone tissue on the long bones of extremities, scapulae and ribs. Proliferate changes of the surface are noted on almost all preserved bones. Acromial processes of the scapulas and outer surface of the 12th rib are covered by porous layers. Also on the upper and lower extremities the regions of periosteal inflammation are marked. On the tibial and femoral bones the process is more manifested. Deep lesion focus (12.6 mm) in the distal part of the left tibia involves the medullar canal and differs from the gummatous destructions on the right tibia. Probably it is a complication of the syphilitic gumma by secondary pyogenic infection, which led to syphilitic osteomyelitis. The presented case is the most expressed and typical for the tertiary syphilis among the investigated material of the Rozhdestveno I site. Written sources testify to the extensive expansion of this disease on the territory of Europe at the end of 15th–16th centuries. It can be confirmed by synchronous findings in Rostov Velikyi, Vologda, Mozhaisk and serves as an evidence of the appearance of venereal syphilis on the territory of Eastern-European lowland.

Ключевые слова

palaeopathology, 15th-16th centuries, treponemal infection, medieval Russia

Цит.: Shvedchikova Tatiana, Berezina Natalia TO THE QUESTION OF DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIFIC INFECTIONS AMONG RURAL MEDIEVAL POPULATION IN RUSSIA: THE CASE OF ROZHDESTVENO CEMETERY (15TH–16TH CENT. AD) // Вестник Московского университета. Серия XXIII. Антропология, 2014; 3/2014; с. 81-81