A pathological lesion or a postmortem artefact? An interdisciplinary approach to deal with an interesting early medieval case.

Objective: This study evaluates a case of pseudopathology and the effects that postmortem taphonomic changes and environmental influences can have on bone.

Material: A skeleton of a young male from the early medieval site Staré Město, dated to the 9th-10th century CE.

Methods: The skeletal remains were subjected to detailed macroscopic and X-ray examination, and then a CT scan and XRF analysis were performed.

Severe chest polytrauma and vertebral number variation of an old woman from the Early Middle Ages.

This study describes a case of polytrauma of the axial skeleton accompanied by a spinal anatomical variation of an early medieval old female skeleton (dated to the 8-9 century AD), with the purpose of clarifying the origin of the condition and to understand its impact on the life quality of the individual. The skeleton was subjected to macroscopic and X-ray examination. An anthropological analysis discovered the skeleton is well preserved, gracile, and with significant traces of physical activity.