Austrian Archaeological Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Franz-Klein Gasse 1, Vienna 1190, Austria; Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Djerassipl. 1, Vienna 1030, Austria.
Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Bäckerstraße 13, Vienna 1010, Austria.
Int J Paleopathol. 2024 Jun;45:18-29. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpp.2024.02.002. Epub 2024 Mar 22.
This study aims to determine and discuss the prevalence of non-adult scurvy cases from the early medieval Jaun/Podjuna Valley in southern Austria.
86 non-adult individuals were assessed from three early medieval sites.
Morphological characteristics associated with suggestive and probable scurvy were observed macroscopically and under 20-40x magnification.
A significant relationship between the prevalence of scurvy and age group was observed. Perinates (46%, 6/13) and children (27.5%, 8/28) showed a high prevalence of skeletal features indicating a diagnosis of scurvy, while no cases of scurvy were observed in adolescents and adults.
In this Alpine region, scurvy occurred frequently in infants and children. Seasonal fluctuations of diet are discussed as factors triggering scurvy.
This study sheds new light on the prevalence of scurvy in the Alpine region and how the region developed after the fall of the Roman Noricum. It also models ways in which multiple lines of evidence can contribute to the diagnostic process.
Poor preservation posed a challenge to identifying probable cases of scurvy. Likewise, non-adult remains are difficult to diagnose due to their developing nature and it is not always possible to distinguish between normal bone growth and pathological growth.
Future applications of biomolecular studies will help illustrate changes in diet that may have contributed to vitamin deficiencies.
本研究旨在确定和讨论奥地利南部早期中世纪扬/波德茹纳山谷中非成年坏血病病例的流行情况。
从三个早期中世纪遗址评估了 86 名非成年个体。
通过肉眼观察和 20-40 倍放大观察与疑似坏血病相关的形态特征。
观察到坏血病的流行与年龄组之间存在显著关系。围产期（46%，6/13）和儿童（27.5%，8/28）表现出高比例的骨骼特征，表明存在坏血病的诊断，而青少年和成年人中没有坏血病病例。
在这个阿尔卑斯地区，坏血病在婴儿和儿童中经常发生。饮食的季节性波动被认为是引发坏血病的因素。
本研究为阿尔卑斯地区坏血病的流行情况以及罗马诺里库姆（Roman Noricum）衰落之后该地区的发展情况提供了新的视角。它还为多种证据如何有助于诊断过程提供了范例。
保存状况不佳，难以识别可能的坏血病病例。同样，由于非成年遗骸处于发育阶段，因此难以诊断，而且有时无法区分正常的骨骼生长和病理性生长。
未来的生物分子研究应用将有助于说明可能导致维生素缺乏的饮食变化。
