International Journal of Osteoarchaeology Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. 9: 369–373 (1999) SHORT REPORT A Case of Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis (DISH) from a Medieval Necropolis in Southern Italy BRUNA REALE, DAMIANO MARCHI AND SILVANA M. BORGOGNINI TARLI* Universita ` degli Studi di Pisa, Dpt. Di Etologia, Ecologia ed Evoluzione, Unita ` di Antropologia, Via S. Maria 55 -56126 Pisa, Italy Key words: idiopathic hyperostosis; medieval abbey; southern Italy Introduction The subject described here was found in a single burial (No. 272) of the cemetery pertaining to the S. Angelo Abbey, located in Mon- tescaglioso, 30 km southwest of Matera (Basili- cata, southern Italy). The site was excavated in 1996 under the direction of Dr G. Canosa, the then Director of the Museo Nazionale D. Ri- dola of Matera. The burial was archaeologically dated be- tween 1100 and 1400 AD and appears as a ditch covered by irregular stones lying under the southern corridor leading to the A Cloister (Canosa, personal communication). Both the corridor and the A Cloister were built after 1400 during work for the expansion of the perimeter of the abbey, thus suggesting that the tombs were originally located outside the boundaries (Venezia, personal communication). Unfortunately, there is a lack of historical docu- mentation about the use of the cemetery by the monks and/or by the local population. The skeleton is fairly complete and in a good state of preservation, as only part of the skull, the atlas, axis, sternebrae, most ribs and part of hand and foot bones are missing. Sex diagnosis (male) was performed by mor- phological methods (Phenice, 1969; Ferembach et al., 1977), age at death (25–35 years) was estimated by the degree of cranial suture closure (Meindl & Lovejoy, 1985) and by the modifica- tions of the pubic symphysis (Meindl et al., 1985). Stature (167.9  2.99 cm) was evaluated by Trotter & Gleser’s (1952) equations for white males. Palaeopathological findings Skull A vermicular aspect was observed on the inner side along the sagittal suture. Signs of porotic hyperostosis were present on the outer table near the lambdoid suture. Vertebral column This was the most affected skeletal region, with massive new bone formation on the vertebral bodies, but without involvement of the articular surfaces or the intervertebral spaces. In the tho- racic section (T6–T12) flowing ossifications were located on the right side of the anterior longitudinal ligament, appearing as a dense and continuous line of bumps (Figure 1). In the * Correspondence to: Universita ` degli Studi di Pisa, Dpt. Di Etologia, Ecologia ed Evoluzione, Unita ` di Antropologia, Via S. Maria 55-56126 Pisa, Italy. E-mail: borgognini@discau.unipi.it CCC 1047–482X/99/050369 – 05$17.50 Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Received 26 November 1998 Revised 26 January 1999 Accepted 30 April 1999