Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences - University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
Department of Medico-Surgical Science and Technology - Sapienza - University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Int J Paleopathol. 2023 Mar;40:41-47. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpp.2022.11.004. Epub 2022 Nov 29.
This paper provides some conceptual guidelines for interpreting the phenomenon of impairment-disability between Antiquity and the Middle Ages from an historical-medical perspective. The paper illustrates application of these guidelines in an historical-medical reassessment of a published paleopathological case-study.
The skeletal remains of a woman who experienced bone fusion and osteoarthritis (Rome, VIII century AD) were selected. We first contextualize her impairments through a paleopathological approach, then locate her experience of disability and care within the cultural and social background to which she belongs.
This study illustrates the difficulty of reconstructing one consistent single model of disability.
The traditional idea of disability as a parameter of exclusion is not appropriate for every historical context.
The paper attempts an integrated and transdisciplinary approach to historical reconstruction of lifestyle in the presence of impairments between late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.
The main research obstacle is the difficulty of going beyond documented Christian interpretation of disability and provision of welfare to identify detail of lived experience for individuals with impairments.
The transdisciplinary historical-medical approach can be adapted for inclusion in any bioarchaeological study of impairment in historic times; future applications of this model will lead to its refinement.
本文从历史医学的角度，为解读古代和中世纪残疾现象提供一些概念性的指导原则。本文通过对已发表的古病理学案例研究进行历史医学再评估，来说明这些原则的应用。
选择了一位患有骨融合和骨关节炎的女性（罗马，公元 8 世纪）的骨骼遗骸。我们首先通过古病理学方法来了解她的损伤情况，然后在她所属的文化和社会背景中定位她的残疾和护理经历。
本研究说明了重建单一残疾模型的困难。
传统的残疾观念作为排斥的参数，并不适用于每一个历史背景。
本文试图采用综合跨学科的方法，对晚期古代和早期中世纪存在损伤的生活方式进行历史重建。
主要的研究障碍是，很难超越残疾的基督教文献解释和福利提供，以确定有损伤的个体的生活经历的细节。
跨学科的历史医学方法可以适用于任何对历史时期损伤的生物考古学研究；该模型的未来应用将使其得到完善。
