Ankylosis of limb joints in a medieval cemetery from Bátmonostor, Hungary.

Bony ankylosis of articulations is a rarely described alteration in the palaeopathological literature. This study presents 30 cases of ankylosis among 426 skeletons of the cemetery Bátmonostor (Southern Hungary) from middle ages. The material comprised four cases of knee, one case of hip, eight cases of tibio-fibularis joints and eight cases of metatarsals and tarsalia, two cases of malleolar joint, one case of wrist, four cases of sternoclavicularis, one case of carpo-metacarpal and one of radio-ulnar ankylosis. All individuals with joint fusion are adults, mostly between 41 and 60 years or over 60 at death. Two thirds of cases are male. The most interesting cases are briefly described.