Social stratification reflected in bone mineral density and stature: Spectral imaging and osteoarchaeological findings from medieval Norway.

This study presents skeletal material from five medieval burial sites in Eastern Norway, confined to one royal burial church, one Dominican monastery, and three burial sites representing parish populations. We combine osteological analysis and Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry, studying the remains of 227 individuals (102 females and 125 males) employing young, middle, and old adult age categories. The aim is to assess bone mineral density as a skeletal indicator of socioeconomic status including stature as a variable.

Population genomics of the Viking world.

The maritime expansion of Scandinavian populations during the Viking Age (about AD 750-1050) was a far-flung transformation in world history. Here we sequenced the genomes of 442 humans from archaeological sites across Europe and Greenland (to a median depth of about 1×) to understand the global influence of this expansion. We find the Viking period involved gene flow into Scandinavia from the south and east.

[Spotted typhoid fever in the Iceland of the sagas?].

In spite of Iceland's geographically isolated position, epidemics of infectious diseases obviously occurred from the very beginning, brought to the island by the first Norwegian settlers and their cattle in the 9th century. People living close together in small farming communities were of course exposed to infection, which must have been common in the narrow Icelandic farmhouses. People had very little understanding or knowledge of protection against contagion, and the whole family, often sleeping together in the same bed, would be an easy prey to contagion.

[Anatomy of the cervical spine].

Background: Knowledge of biomechanics and the cervical spine's anatomy has become more topical as the incidence of whiplash neck disorders has increased. Unfortunately, injuries after traffic accidents are often brought to court, where the medical expert's knowledge is of utmost importance to ensure a correct medical evaluation.

Material And Methods: The article is based on information identified through non-systematic searches of PubMed and on the author's experience as a professor of anatomy.

What can a baby's skull withstand? Testing the skull's resistance on an anatomical preparation.

A fall scenario is often given to explain the reason for a head injury to an infant. Mostly the examining doctor or forensic expert has to rely on his own experience and to appraise the situation to be consistent or not with his finds. An experiment carried out on an anatomical preparation showed that the skull of a newborn baby was able to repeatedly resist forces of up to 1000 N before breaking in.

[Forbidden anatomy].

Since centuries anatomists have used any course of action in order to get hold of material for dissections, and at the same time avoid prosecution for grave robbery, at times the only way to get hold of cadavers. Stealing newly dead people from the churchyards and offering them for sale to anatomical institutions was not uncommon in the 19th century. "Resurrectionists"--as these thieves were called, as they made the dead "alive"--were seen as necessary for the teaching of anatomy in Victorian Britain.