Miklós Kásler - Zoltán Szentirmay (szerk.): Identifying the Árpád Dynasty Skeletons Interred in the Matthias Church. Applying data from historical, archaeological, anthropological, radiological, morphological, radiocarbon dating and genetic research (Budapest, 2021)
CHAPTER FOUR – Palaeopathological investigations
fibre. Forestier et al. (1983) found that ossification of the frontal long ligament is formed from several nodules; the heterotopic bone islands begin to form along the middle part of the vertebral body, they spread in distal and proximal directions, but they have no connection to the vertebral bodies’ cortalis during the early stages. Not only our own observations (Józsa 2010), but every microscopic analysis suggests that calcification could be ruled out, which, in pathological terms means amorphous calcification, and it forms around foreign bodies or necrotic nodules, in rare cases, without a known cause (e.g. lime gout). Forestier disease is one of the most ancient skeletal degenerations. It first appeared during the age of the dinosaurs, and in the following 150 million years, many species (both extinct and contemporary) were shown to exhibit it. It is still not uncommon among mammals living in natural conditions, or older pets... the most surprising finding is that it can develop in recent fishes at sea and in freshwater. In monkeys from the old world (gorilla, macaque, baboon, rhesus monkey, etc.) its incidence rate is between 4 and 21 percent. It does not appear any more often in captive primates than in wild ones.” Among the hominoids (human like), the Proconsul skeleton (an ancestor of modern gorillas) exhibited the disease 10-12 million years ago. However, on the remains of Australopithecus (precursor to humans, 3-1 million years prior today), Homo habilis (archaic human, 2.5 - 1 million years ago), and Homo erectus (upright ancient man, lived 1.5 million - 300,000 years ago) no signs of Forestier s disease were found (although it should be noted that we only know about 200-300 incomplete skeletons of these three hominid (human) species). 98
