Gyermekkorú maradványok összehasonlító biológiai antropológiai vizsgálata történeti népességekben
Authors: LÁSZLÓ Orsolya 
Published: May 2019

The process of biological adaptation to a certain environment can be studied by human remains both from a socio-cultural and a biological perspective. From a biological point of view, the skeletal remains of non-adults similarly to adult remains are suitable for acquiring such data that, if they are interpreted in depth, can provide a more complete picture of past lives. The dissertation attempts to interpret data of children from the Carpathian Basin in order to draw conclusions regarding the life quality of past populations. My aims and objectives were the followings. From the in depth analyses of the mortality pattern of children and pathological lesions connected to metabolic and infectious diseases, I attempted to make conclusions regarding how children reacted to the changes of stress factors in different historical periods. I tried to estimate the extent of the effect of stress factors on different populations with the help of the morphological characteristics and frequency data of their pathological indicators. I tried to detect and interpret the effect of economic and environmental changes of certain historical periods with the comparison of the examined populations. The examined time scale involves the Avar Age (7–8th c.), the Arpadian Age (12–14th c.) and the Late Medieval Period (14–16th c.).

During the accomplishment of the tasks referred to in the aims and objectives above I reached the following conclusions. Differences in life circumstances and in the nature of diseases in the three populations can be suggested based on the varying of mortality patterns and frequencies of non-specific stress indicators. The extent of stress effect could be estimated, which testified also to the osteological paradox.

The economic, environmental and historical effects of certain periods could be demonstrated and interpreted to a certain extent: (1) based on the mortality data, at the Avar Kölked site, apart from the high mortality rate at an early age, other significant stress factors cannot be discerned in comparison to the other two populations. The variation perhaps can be sought in the different customs of child rearing; however, this proposition could not be answered based on the methods employed in the doctoral thesis. (2) Judging by the mortality rates and the above mentioned pathological characteristics of the children of Kána, the Arpadian Age can be regarded as a more balanced period. (3) At the same time, by observing the symptoms of the lack of vitamin C, it could also be determined that temporary effects can also be observed within a population despite the generally good living circumstances. (4) The results of the Late Medieval child remains from Paks reflect perfectly well the difficult living circumstances defined by the negative social and political relation characteristic of the age, which may have resulted in the lower resistance of children.

This study wanted to present how the living circumstances and environmental challenges characterizing a population can be examined through children; thus, the analysis of the remains of children can be the perfect basis for comparison in future Hungarian bioarchaeological researches.