256 • Judyta Gladykowska-Rzeczycka 



Table 4. Summarized fmdings from all areas 



Location 



Total No. of tumors Total % skeletons 



skeletons Benign Malignant tumors with tumors 



Of the Neolithic sites, the Mierzanowice cemetery has 

 only one case of osteoma in 67 skeletons with pathologic 

 changes. In the Zlota cemetery, tumors were found in seven 

 individuals out of 88 skeletons with lesions. Among the Me- 

 dieval cemeteries, the populations most commonly affected 

 by tumor come from cemeteries at Czama Wielka and Os- 

 trow Lednicki. The preservation state of the skeletons from 

 these cemeteries is relatively good (60-80%). The most dra- 

 matic cases — malignant tumors — come from the Czersk and 

 Ostrow Lednicki cemeteries. 



A total of 61 tumors were observed in all parts of the 

 skeleton. Most are located in the skull (28) and the lower 

 extremities ( 19), especially in males ( 16.4%). The frequency 

 of neoplasms in males is higher (50.8%) than in females 

 (31.1%) but the malignant tumors (3) were observed only in 

 females. Of 31 males, 5 were adults, 2 adult-mature, 15 

 mature, 6 mature-senile, 1 senile, and 2 of unknown age: of 

 19 females, 1 1 were adults, 2 adult-mature, 2 mature-senile, 

 and 1 of unknown age. There were three cases of neoplasms 

 in children and eight cases in adults of unidentified sex (2 

 adults, 1 adult-mature, 3 mature, and 2 of unknown age). 



There are also cases of tumors known from other ceme- 

 teries but they are presented by their authors (Komitowski 

 1975; Halka 1935; Spettowa and Koczanowski 1973) in a 

 very general way; all (±10) are reported as benign. They are 

 not included in this paper. 



Summary 



Summarized results are shown in Table 4. In the material 

 from Czechoslovakia, tumors were found in about 2% of all 

 2584 excavated skeletons; 86.7% were benign and 13.3% 

 malignant. From 10 Polish cemeteries (tumors found in only 

 8 of them), 61 (2.3%) neoplasms were found in 2653 exca- 

 vated individuals; 95. 1% were benign, 4.9% malignant. Tu- 

 mors from the Baltic Coast are sporadic. Only 5 or 45 cases 

 (0.2 or 1.6%) were observed among 2763 skeletons, dated 

 from Mesolithic up to the 18th century a.d. None were ma- 

 lignant. Information from the eastern part of Russia is prob- 

 lematic. Only one cemetery from Sarkiel is presented in 

 detail. There were 9 tumors (3.1%) in 294 excavated skel- 

 etons of which 77.4% were benign and 22.6% malignant. 



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Summary of audience discussion: Unexpectedly high frequen- 

 cies of certain benign tumors (especially osteomas) in some ofthe.se 

 collections may be due to difficulty in differentiating reactive (such 

 as myositis ossificans) from neoplastic processes, a problem created 

 by the descriptive vagaries in the reviewed reports. 



Zagreb Paleopathotogy Symp. 1988 



