Paine Robert R, Vargiu Rita, Signoretti Carla, Coppa Alfredo
Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Social Work, MS 1012, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA.
J Anthropol Sci. 2009;87:193-210.
Imperial Roman burials recovered from the sites of San Donato and Bivio CH, located in the city of Urbino, Italy were examined for skeletal lesions. Observed pathologies include arthritis, trauma, periostitis, cranial pitting and enamel hypoplasia. All of the adults exhibited at least one enamel hypoplasia. In general, the adult males exhibit greater rates of skeletal pathologies than the females. Clearly, chronic health problems appear to be common among all adults; nearly 89% of them exhibit at least one form of skeletal lesion. This is in stark contrast to what is seen for the sub-adults. Only one sub-adult showed skeletal lesions. Acute health problems may have been the primary contributing factors for the death of the children recovered from the site. Despite previous research and attention to malaria as a critical health problem of Roman sub-adults, it does not seem to be an issue for this burial sample. We compare the frequency of cranial pitting and periostitis for the Urbino burials to several other Imperial Roman skeletal samples as a means to assess the potential for malaria and other casual factors for the observed lesions. In conclusion, we see the extreme rate of skeletal lesions for this community as indication of an extremely poor quality of life for these Romans.
对从意大利乌尔比诺市的圣多纳托和比维奥CH遗址发掘出的罗马帝国时期墓葬进行了骨骼病变检查。观察到的病理情况包括关节炎、创伤、骨膜炎、颅骨凹陷和釉质发育不全。所有成年人都至少有一处釉质发育不全。总体而言，成年男性骨骼病变的发生率高于女性。显然，慢性健康问题在所有成年人中似乎很常见；近89%的人至少有一种骨骼病变形式。这与未成年人的情况形成了鲜明对比。只有一名未成年人有骨骼病变。急性健康问题可能是从该遗址发掘出的儿童死亡的主要促成因素。尽管之前有研究并关注疟疾是罗马未成年人的一个关键健康问题，但对于这个墓葬样本来说，它似乎不是一个问题。我们将乌尔比诺墓葬的颅骨凹陷和骨膜炎发生率与其他几个罗马帝国时期的骨骼样本进行比较，以此来评估疟疾及其他可能导致所观察到病变的偶然因素。总之，我们认为这个社区极高的骨骼病变发生率表明这些罗马人的生活质量极其低下。
