Anquilosis carral y metacarpal en un individuo medieval de Toledo

Abstract

This paper focusses on the possible causes of the bone alterations observed in the human remains of an individual found in the sepulture 13 of the 1st Necrópolis (XII-XII c. AD) from Santa María de Melque (Toledo). It was a typical anthropomorphic tomb, where an adult male (mature-senil), relatively well preserved, was buried in decubito supino, with the hands crossed above the pelvis and the legs extended. This paper focusses on the possible causes of the bone alterations observed in the human remains of an individual found in the sepulture 13 of the 1st Necrópolis (XII-XII c. AD) from Santa María de Melque (Toledo). It was a typical anthropomorphic tomb, where an adult male (mature-senil), relatively well preserved, was buried in decubito supino, with the hands crossed above the pelvis and the legs extended. For the determination of a differential diagnostic of the possible aetiologies of this pathology it is necessary to take into account the asymmetry of the ¡important lesión that affects the left hand, the absence of malformations in any other articular surface and the symmetry of the superior extremities (both in dimensions and muscular insertions). All the data obtained indícate a trauma (that may not have been the result of a fracture) or an infectious process as the possible cause for the bony ankylosis that affected the left hand of this medieval man.