Opracowanie antropologiczne szczątków ludzkich z wczesnośredniowiecznego cmentarzyska rzędowego w Gołuniu, stan. 23/24, woj. wielkopolskie

The Early Medieval cemetery in Gołuń is archaeologically dated to the period from the end of the 10th c. to the mid-11th c. (Małgorzata Talarczyk-Andrałojć in this volume). The span of use of the cemetery was about 50 years. In the nearest neighbourhood there is no other uncovered and examined cemetery from this period. Only in the second half of the 11th c. did two cemeteries in a close vicinity commence to exist next to each other — Dziekanowice Site 2 and Dziekanowice Site 22. Both are situated on the eastern coast of Lake Lednica (to the north, c. 10 km from Gołuń). The anthropological analysis first of all concerned the age and sex assessment (of adult individuals) (Table 1), the structure of deaths for the examined cemetery (Table 2) and the reconstruction of intravital body height, done individually for each adult individual (Table 5; Table 6). Based on measurements of the long bones of the upper and lower limbs, the average intravital body height of the examined individuals was reconstructed. It was found that the inhumation burials and stray human bones belong to no less than 54 individuals. The bones of 5 individuals were found in 2007, while the bones of another 49 individuals were discovered in 2011 (Table 1). The group of children’s burials was composed of 10 skeletons (or skeleton fragments). Among these, 7 died at the age of Infans I, while three — at the age of Infans II (for one individual the age was assessed as 13–15 years, i.e., the end of Infans II and the beginning of Juvenis). 4 burials were classified as juvenile persons (the age of Juvenis): 3 of these were female burials and 1 was a male burial. 13 individuals died at the age of Adultus: 3 females and 10 males. Yet another burial was that of a woman who died at the age of Adultus–Maturus. 13 individuals died at the age of Maturus: 4 females and 9 males. One man died at the age of Maturus–Senilis. 7 persons: 3 females and 4 males died at the age of Senilis. Gender was assessed for 39 adult or juvenile individuals. 14 female individuals and 25 male individuals were isolated. For 5 individuals their age was assessed as “Adult” (Table 2). The state of health of the examined group can be assessed, with some approximation, on the basis of the changes which have come into existence in the bones [Gładykowska-Rzeczycka, Sokół 2000]. In the group of analysed skeletons, lesions of disease were found within 34 skeletons (Table 1), more often in male than female ones (22:10). Two skeletons with recorded lesions of disease belonged to children (Table 1). The bone material was measured using the anthropometric technique. Individual results for each person are offered in the Tables. A poor state of preservation of the bone material rendered most measurements impossible. The obtained results of intravital body height, separately for women and men, were compared with data for various Early Medieval skeleton series from the territory of Poland. The average height of female individuals (157.9 cm) and male individuals (169.3 cm) buried in the cemetery in Gołuń displays the greatest similarity to a series from Dziekanowice 2 (women 157.0 cm, men 170.1 cm) [Henneberg, Puch 1989: Table 7, p. 153]. We can assume that the group buried in the cemetery in Gołuń was remarkable for their considerable body heights. These values are higher than the average value of this trait in the Early Middle Ages in Poland (men — 165.7 cm, women — 153.6 cm) [Stolarczyk, Lorkiewicz 1993]. Thus, the body height of individuals from this population was above the average in this period. Thanks to the detailed anthropological analysis of the examined bone remains, it was possible to carry out a reconstruction of mortality processes in the group from Gołuń. The distribution of mortality of the examined group (Table 9) diverged from the mortality model which is typical for prehistoric populations [Henneberg, Strzałko 1975; Piontek 1979]. What is absent are evenly distributed frequencies of mortality of the adult individuals, and the frequency of mortality of children too is low (18.5%). If one assumes, however, that this is a reflection of the actual mortality conditions in the examined group, it would be necessary to state that the group from Gołyń does not significantly differ from other groups from the territory of Poland in terms of their biological condition. Differences in values of individual measures, i.e., the percentage of individuals who lived until the age of x (lx), the probability of death (qx), and the average further continuation of life of an individual at the age of x (eo x) (Table 9 and 11), confirm the observations of Janusz Piontek [1979] on the considerable diversification of biological conditions of local groups in historical periods. The anthropological analysis of even such a small and poorly preserved group can be a valuable contribution to the reconstruction of the structure and the age of the dead and the reconstruction of the biostructure of this population. Based on the nature of the changes, we are able to say that in spite of the fact that in a majority of cases the dead suffered from childhood diseases related to periodical malnutrition, they belonged to a “wealthy” group, whose living conditions were at least good. The adult population rather suffered from diseases progressing with age than from too onerous physical labour.