Dental status of Napoleon's Great Army's (1812) mass burial of soldiers in Vilnius: childhood peculiarities and adult dietary habits

A mass grave of the soldiers of Napoleon's Great Army, containing no less than 3269 individuals who died during the retreat from Russia in December 1812, was uncovered during an archaeological rescue excavation in 2002 in Vilnius, Lithuania. General dental analysis, including that of dental wear, tooth loss, caries, calculus, and periodontal diseases and abscesses, was used to evaluate the oral health status and possible dietary patterns of individuals who represented recruits from almost all of Western and Central Europe. Growth conditions in childhood were studied by scoring of linear enamel hypoplasia. In all, 293 individuals (6528 teeth) were selected for the analysis; 20–30 year old males made up the majority of the sample. Their general dental status is characteristic of young individuals: low dental attrition and antemortem tooth loss, as well as low prevalence of calculus and abscesses. The caries rate was average compared with late Medieval/early industrial populations and typical for individuals with diverse diets. However, a considerable amount of pulp caries and a high number of carious teeth in some individuals indicate consumption of cariogenic products (e.g. sugar, sweet drinks) and poor oral hygiene. The frequency and severity of hypoplasia was lower compared with other populations of that time, suggesting the selection of the fittest individuals for military service; this correlates with the historically known selection criteria of that period. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An otological investigation of Lithuanian skulls

Two thousand seven hundred and sixty temporal bones from 1603 skulls ranging from the Neolithic to the eighteenth century AD were investigated visually and under magnification, scoring auditory exostoses, stapes footplate fixation and removing preserved auditory ossicles. Sixteen cases of auditory exostoses were noted. Changes in their occurrence were evident in adult skulls from the first to second millennia AD, (3.31 ± 0.87 per cent and 0.25 ± 0.18 per cent, p < 0.001). Clear sexual differences were also elucidated (males: 1.96 ± 0.56 per cent, females: 0.49 ± 0.28 per cent). Taking into account the geographical latitude of Lithuania, this prevalence should not be considered high. Twelve cases of stapes footplate fixation in the oval window, which could be considered as otosclerosis, were identified; no sexual or temporal differences were noted. The general frequency in adult skulls (0.99 ± 0.28 per cent) is similar to that in contemporary Caucasoid people. Three hundred and four intact auditory ossicles obtained during examination were measured. As these measurements did not differ significantly from data in the literature, morphological stability of the auditory ossicles was confirmed. Certain sexual differences were established for several measurements.     

Radiocarbon and dendrochronological dating of Sub-fossil oaks from Smarhoń riverine sediments

Sub-fossil oaks from Smarhoń in Belarus have been investigated and tree-ring chronologies were assembled. According to radiocarbon dating, the oldest oak grew from 5782–5612 cal BC and the youngest from 1575–1747 cal AD. Radiocarbon and dendrochronological dating of 97 samples, four single series, 10 mean curves (containing 2–9 series) and three chronologies (10–25 series) were constructed. The longest chronology (No. 16), covering 549 years, was absolutely dated against various oak chronologies of Polish/Baltic origin to AD 778–1326. Germination and dying-off phases were assessed from the three best replicated chronologies. A spectral analysis of the chronologies provided cycles of variable length, on average of 25 years.     

Enamel hypoplasia in Danish and Lithuanian Late Medieval/Early Modern samples: a possible reflection of child morbidity and mortality patterns

Numerous studies and various interpretations of the prevalence of linear enamel hypoplasias (LEH) based on populations living in different cultural and economic conditions are causing some confusion and raising doubts about whether or not such LEH are reliable indicators of life conditions. An analysis of LEH prevalence patterns was performed on the adults of three populations: Tirup—a Danish Medieval rural population of the 12–14th centuries (131 individuals), Subačiaus str. in Vilnius—a Lithuanian Late Medieval urban population of the 16–17th centuries (88 individuals), and the aristocracy—a Lithuanian pooled sample population from several churches of the 15–18th centuries (66 individuals). Statistical testing of the influence of population affinity, sex and age at death was also performed. Since the same investigator scored all the samples, possible inter‐observer error bias was minimized. In all the populations, LEH formation ages were similar. Statistically significant sex differences were found only in the aristocratic sample (with higher male frequency). It was found that the town population was characterized by the highest frequency of affected individuals, with the highest severity and highest number of stress episodes per individual. A reliable relationship with age at death was found only in the town sample: individuals with more numerous and more marked LEH had shorter life expectancies in adulthood. Different “most vulnerable years” for subsequent life expectancies were noted for different populations. A tentative explanation of these differences could be the pooled effect of differential morbidity and mortality. It seems that the rural population experienced the highest morbidity and nutrition deficiency as well as the highest child mortality whereas, in the urban sample, high morbidity was accompanied by a lower child mortality. Both lower morbidity and mortality seem to be characteristic for the aristocracy. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.