Stapedial footplate fixation in a 4000-year-old temporal bone from Franzhausen II,Austria

In one of 185 temporal bones from 100 individuals excavated from the Bronze Age cemetery Franzhausen II in Lower Austria, stapedial footplate fixation was detected, in a 16–20-year-old male. Examination by surgical microscope, flexible endoscope and computed tomography revealed that the stapes footplate is almost completely fixed into the oval window, with abnormal bone formation in its anterior end. As shown by computed tomographic imaging there were no radiolucent zones around the cochlea, which can sometimes be seen in modern patients with cochlear otosclerosis. Most findings lead to the conclusion that this case of a stapes ankylosis nearly 4000 years ago is probably due to otosclerosis.