![]() Macroscopy can be also used in palaeodemography because human remains also offer information on gender, age, ethnicity and population numbers. 3 Obviously, the lack of any signs in a well‐preserved set of remains may not mean absence of ill health, as the individual may have had an accident or died of an acute illness. ![]() 3 In the same way, observing that the condition of skeletal remains makes a macroscopic diagnosis impossible can still be of medical interest by suggesting insufficient vitamin D, parathyroid abnormalities and fluorine exposure. 3 These finding were presumed to be insignificant until palaeobotanical research established that they were probably caused by protracted chewing of grass and plants in order to sustain a diet lacking in meat. For example, observation of human remains and the objects on or around them, shows that many people from different cultures and periods had amputations, splinting of fractures, trephination of the skull and stitches, all presumably forms of medical treatment.Ī macroscopic diagnosis can also be made from supposedly unhelpful remains which have in fact provided a lot of information, for example the Cro‐Magnon men at Padina and Hajducka Vodenica in the Djerdap gorge, whose well‐preserved remains appeared to be entirely normal other than slight ridges and bony excrescences on their jaws. 2 Importantly, the examination of human remains also yields valuable information regarding ancient medical and surgical attempts at treatment. However, pseudopathology (when external conditions such as pressure, temperature and flora and fauna after death cause effects similar to those caused by disease before death) must be taken into consideration. Consequently, observation of human remains together with medical knowledge enables the observer to diagnose acute and chronic lesions that were shaped by genetic, infectious, neoplastic, joint, traumatic or metabolic processes. Skeletal and dental records are very useful for this purpose as bone is susceptible to various stresses during its lifecycle that can alter its shape, size, consistency and development. A general description of the procedures used and their main advantages and disadvantages will be given below and will focus particularly on macroscopy and microscopy, autopsy, imaging and biochemical methods.ĭirect evidence for pathologies and former treatments can be obtained from macroscopic examination of human remains. Accordingly, the palaeopathologist in the 21st century is able to investigate and make scientific deductions on human remains regardless of whether they are buried or cremated, bone or soft tissue. 1 However, the improvements in diagnostic procedures in medicine and pathology over the last 150 years have contributed to the interpretation of human remains. This is because art and literature are limited by linguistic and pictorial interpretation as well as by biases created by subjective description and depiction by ancient authors and artists. Evidence of these problems can be found in art, literature and human remains, but it is human remains that have regularly provided the scholars of ancient diseases and health with a vast amount of information. Illness and injury have been a constant problem for humans. ![]()
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