The frequencies of cribra orbitalia, humeral and femoral cribra in non-adult skeletons from a medieval cemetery of Cedynia, Poland Janusz Piontek, Blandyna Jerszyńska piontek@amu.edu.pl, blandyna@amu.edu.pl Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Faculty of Biology, Institute of Anthropology Department of Human Evolutionary Biology Poznan, Poland SELECTED REFERENCES Malinowska-Łazarczyk H., 1982, Cmentarzysko średniowieczne w Cedyni, Muzeum Narodowe w Szczecinie. Miquel–Feucht M.J., Polo–Cerda M., Villalain–Blanco J.D., 1999, El sindrome cribroso: Cribra femoral vs Cribra orbitalia, Actas V Congresso Nacional de Paleopatologia, Alcala La Real. Piontek J., Kozłowski T., 2002, Frequency of Cribra Orbitalia in the Subadult Medieval Population from Gruczno, Poland, International Journal of Osteoarchaelogy, 12: 202 – 208. Robledo B., Trancho G. J., Brothwell D., 1995, Cribra Orbitalia: Health Indicator in the Late Roman Population of Cannington (Sommerset, Great Britain), Journal of Paleopathology, 7: 185-193. Stloukal M., Hanákova H., 1978, Die lange der Langsknochen atlslawischer Bövolkerungen Unter besonder Berucksichtigung von Wachstumsfragen, Homo, 29: 53-69. Cribra orbitalia Humeral cribra Femoral cribra Grade N % Grade N % Grade N % Without cribra Porotic Cribrotic Trabecular Trabecular accused 16 39 26 16 7 15.4 37.5 25.0 15.4 6.7 0 I II III 22 17 11 4 40.7 31.5 20.4 7.4 0 I II III 9 31 27 23 10.0 34.4 30.0 25,6 Total 104 100.0 - 54 100.0 - 90 100.0 Total with cribra 88 84.6 - 32 59.3 - 81 90.0 The cribra orbitalia phenomenon has been granted a special position among a great number of indicators that allow researchers to describe the state of health of human populations. The main reason behind the formation of cribra orbitalia is thought to be anemia resulting from iron deficiency (Hengen 1971, Lallo et al. 1977, Stuart-Macadam 1985, 1992, Walker 1986), which in turn may be related to poor living conditions and infectious disease (Stuart- Macadam 1987, 1989, 1992). The quality of health and hygiene within a population seem to be factors decisive for the frequency of cribra orbitalia, in particular in the regions free from genetically induced anemia (Angel 1966, Hershkovitz et al. 1991). Many researchers regard cribra orbitalia as a good indicator of the state of health, nutrition and hygiene of (prehistoric) populations (Armelagos et al. 1991, Fornaciari et al. 1982, 1989, Goodman et al. 1984, 1988, Guidotti 1984, Hirata 1990, Huss-Ashmore et al. 1982, Jankauskas 1995, Ubelaker 1990). They attempted to find a relation between a variety of paleodemographic and paleopathological populational indicators and the frequency of cribra orbitalia (Bush & Zvelebil 1991, Carlson et al. 1974, Cybulski 1977, Hengen 1971, Mensforth et al. 1978, McGrath 1991, Mittler & Van Gerven 1994, Stuart-Macadam 1985, 1987, 1989, 1992, Turbon et al. 1991/92, Ubelaker 1991, 1990). The aim of this study is to compare the frequencies of non-specific stress indicators, cribra orbitalia and femoral and humeral cribra in non-adult skeletons from a medieval cemetery of Cedynia. Age group N Cribra orbitalia Total Porotic Cribrotic Trabecular Trabecular accused N % N % N % N % N % 0 – 1 1 – 3 3 – 6 6 – 12 > 12 5 6 17 39 17 3 6 15 32 13 60.0 100.0 88.2 82.0 76.5 1 5 5 15 3 33.3 83.3 33.3 46.9 23.1 0 0 6 11 6 – – 40.0 34.4 46.1 1 1 2 3 4 33.3 16.7 13.3 9.4 30.8 1 0 2 3 0 33.3 – 13.3 9.4 – Total 84 69 82.1 29 42.0 23 33.3 11 15.9 6 8.7 Age group N Femoral cribra Total Grade I Grade II Grade III N % N % N % N % 0 – 1 1 – 3 3 – 6 6 – 12 > 12 8 13 22 20 12 6 13 21 18 10 75.0 100.0 95.4 90.0 83.3 5 7 5 8 3 83.3 53.8 23.8 44.4 30.0 0 4 9 5 5 – 30.8 42.9 27.8 50.0 1 2 7 5 2 16.7 15.4 33.3 27.8 20.0 Total 75 68 90.7 28 41.2 23 33.8 17 25.0 Grade I Grade II Grade III Cribra femoral The frequencies of femoral cribra in age groups The frequencies of cribra orbitalia, humeral and femoral cribra The frequencies of cribra orbitalia in age groups Cribra orbitalia Porotic Cribrotic Trabecular Trabecular accused RESULTS The comparative analysis of the lesions showed the highest incidence of femoral cribra (90.0% of individuals), then cribra orbitalia (84.6%) and humeral cribra (59.3%). The frequencies of cribra orbitalia and femoral cribra are almost identical. The observed asymmetry of occurrence of cribra orbitalia, femoral and humeral cribra proved statistically insignificant. Cribra humeral Grade III Grade II Grade I CONCLUSION The presented data show that the living conditions in a medieval population from Cedynia did not guarantee proper growth and development of children and juveniles. They were exposed to various factors affecting the course of progressive ontogeny, especially related to diseases. This conclusion is supported by the studies of skeletal growth profiles and Harris lines of the tibia (Piontek et al. 1993, Jerszyńska 2004). METHODOLOGICAL REMARK Femoral cribra has a higher incidence than humeral cribra. The corresponding data were presented by Djuric et al. (2008). In the late mediaeval Stara Torina (Serbia) population femoral cribra was observed in 83.25% of cases, humeral cribra in 58.46%, and cribra orbitalia in 46.12% of orbits. Differences in the occurrence of cribra orbitalia, femoral and humeral cribra, in the case of subadult skeletons, may lead to wrong assessment of the anemia frequency in the examined population. Studies of multiple indicators: cribra orbitalia, femoral and humeral cribra may contribute to proper evaluation of the severity of the cribra phenomenon and the cause of its formation. MATERIAL AND METHODS The skeletal material used in the study was collected from the medieval burial ground in Cedynia. Cedynia is a town in Poland, in Western Pomerania, Voivodeship, in Grifino district. It lies approximately 70 km south of the city of Szczecin, on the Oder river. The first Slavic settlement came into existence in the 8th century. In the 12th/13th centuries it was a seat of a Polish castellany. The cemetery was discovered in 1966 on a hill situated around 200 m north-east from the ruins of an early medieval castle. It is dated back to the period from the end of the 10th century to the first half of the 14th century (Malinowska-Łazarczyk 1982). In total 211 skeletons were examined. 160 skeletons were qualified for scoring both cribra orbitalia and femoral cribra. 104 skeletons were used to assess cribra orbitalia, 90 skeletons to assess femoral cribra and 54 skeletons were included in the assessment of co-occurrence of femoral and humeral cribra. Cribra orbitalia was scored according to the classification system of Robledo et al. (1995) and humeral and femoral cribra - using the Miquel-Feucht et al’s grade system (1999) with authors’ modification. Cedynia .