Department of Biological Anthropology, University of Szeged, Közép fasor 52, H-6726, Szeged, Hungary; Department of Archaeogenetics, Institute of Hungarian Research, Úri utca 54-56, H-1014, Budapest, Hungary.
Institute of Archaeological Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University, Múzeum körút 4/B, H-1088, Budapest, Hungary.
Tuberculosis (Edinb). 2024 Sep;148:102552. doi: 10.1016/j.tube.2024.102552. Epub 2024 Jul 31.
Our knowledge of how society viewed leprosy and treated its victims in the past is still scarce, especially in geographical regions and archaeological periods from where no written sources are available. To fill in some research gaps, we provide the comparative analysis of five previously described, probable cases with leprosy from the Avar-period Trans-Tisza region (Hungary). The five skeletons were subject to a detailed macromorphological (re-)evaluation. Where possible, the biological and social consequences of having leprosy were reconstructed based on the observed bony changes and mortuary treatment, respectively. The retrospective, macromorphology-based diagnosis of leprosy could be established in three cases only. Based on the detected skeletal lesions, all of them suffered from near-lepromatous or lepromatous leprosy. The disease resulted in aesthetic repercussions and functional implications, which would have been disadvantageous for these individuals, and limited or changed their possibilities to participate in social situations. They could have even required heavy time investment from their respective communities. The analysis of the mortuary treatment of the confirmed leprosy cases revealed no evidence of a social stigma. These findings indicate that the afflicted have not been systematically expulsed or segregated, at least in death, in the Early Middle Ages of the Carpathian Basin.
我们对于过去社会如何看待麻风病以及如何对待麻风病患者的了解仍然很少，尤其是在那些没有书面资料的地理区域和考古时期。为了填补一些研究空白，我们对来自匈牙利跨蒂萨河阿瓦尔时期（Avar-period）的五个以前描述过的、可能患有麻风病的案例进行了比较分析。这五具骨骼进行了详细的宏观形态学（重新）评估。在可能的情况下，根据观察到的骨骼变化和埋葬处理，分别重建了患有麻风病的生物和社会后果。只有在三个案例中可以进行回溯性的、基于宏观形态学的麻风病诊断。基于检测到的骨骼损伤，他们都患有接近瘤型或瘤型麻风病。这种疾病会产生美学影响和功能影响，对这些人不利，并限制或改变了他们参与社交活动的可能性。他们甚至可能需要他们所在社区投入大量时间。对确诊的麻风病病例的埋葬处理分析没有发现社会耻辱的证据。这些发现表明，在中世纪早期的喀尔巴阡盆地，受影响的人并没有被系统地驱逐或隔离，至少在死亡方面没有。
