Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 83. (Budapest 1991)

Ferencz, M.: Joint diseases in Medieval cemetery in Hungary

Buda. The history and the ethnical questions of this village are typical for the whole region, whose research promotes a better understanding of the history of the people on the Great Hungarian Plain (PÁLÓCZI-HORVÁTH 1986). Cemeteries from both periods were excavated beside the present Calvinist church which was built on the remains of the Medieval one. 409 graves were dug up. Most of the Medieval graves are under the church or very close to that, therefore the degree of the uncovering of the two cemeteries is very different. The Árpádian-age cemetery comprises approximately 600 graves, of which about 300 graves were excavated (50%). The late Medieval cemetery comprises about 3000 graves, of which only 100 graves were opened (3.5%) (PÁLÓCZI-HORVÁTH, personal communication). THE MATERIAL 170 grown-up individuals' skeletons were studied. Those skeletons were chosen whose age and sex could be determined (MARTIN & SALLER 1957). In this paper the appearance of joint diseases (namely spondylosis deformans and osteoarthrosis deformans) was analysed. From the 170 skeletons 144 date back to the Árpádian-age, 26 to the late Middle Ages. While the skeletons from the Árpádian-period appear as representatives for the population lived then, the late Medieval bones with their less number and rate probably do not it. Comparing the two populations we must make allowance for this. Distribution of ages and sexes in the two cemeteries is shown in Table 1. Table 1. Distribution of ages and sexes Árpádian-age Late Middle Ages Total Males Females Males Females Ad 49 48 4 9 110 Mat 22 23 8 5 58 Sen 2 2 Total 71 73 12 14 170 (49.3%) (50.7%) (46.2%) (53.8%) (100%) 144 (84.7%) 26 (15.3%) RESULTS The pathological process of spondylosis deformans briefly is: some degenerative tearings take place on the peripherial portion of the vertebral disk (annulus fibrosus). The intervertebral disks lose their elasticity, their shock-absorver function. The pressure provokes subperiosteal new bone formations. The ossification can reach the anterior or posterior ligaments, so the vertebrae can fuse. The motion of the spine becomes limited and painful (ZSEBŐK 1979) (Plate I: 1-2). In the Árpádian-age cemetery we could recognize this joint disease on the bones of 107 individuals (74.3%). 29.9% (calculated for the whole series) show a moderate, 44.4% an expressed form of the lesion. The high frequency of spondylosis deformans is shown by the percentile values calculated for the age-groups: 58.3% of the Ad females, 95.7% of the Mat females, 75.5% of the Ad males and 81.8% of the Mat males suffered from this joint disease (Fig. 1).