De bortglömda människorna - En studie av patologier i obrända människoskelett från Skånes bronsålder

Sammanfattning: The task of this essay is to study paleopathology in unburned bones from the Bronze Age of Scania, Sweden. Questions about the meaning of age, sex and health is raised, due to this task. Further, this study also aims to construct a catalog over the material. The study is based upon 5771 bone fragments and 789 teeth from 18 different archaeological sites. All the material is situated in Lunds Universitets Historiska Museum, Lund and Statens Historiska Museum, Stockholm. Several different pathologies were diagnosed in the skeletal remains, such as trauma, osteoarthritis, malnutrition and dental diseases. A much too large quantity of the material was not suited for sex estimations, wherefore the results of the study of sex differences between pathologies could only be considered tentative. The meaning of age was mostly seen in cases of vertebral osteoarthritis and dental caries.