Abstract
This study is based on the measurements of bones of the upper and lower limbs of skeletons derived from the remarkable medieval cemeteries of Mikulcˇice-Kostelisko (78 male, 132 female) and Prusanky (66 male, 69 female) (9th–12th centuries AD), and a series of skeletons representing a recent population from Bohemia (143 male, 157 female). The objective was to assess directional asymmetry (DA), fluctuating asymmetry (FA) and antisymmetry (AS) of the dimensions of the evaluated bones, and to use these data to compare the characteristics of the medieval and recent populations.
DA was recorded in most dimensions. The FA values were very low, and almost negligible in relation to the size.
Nevertheless, FA was markedly more frequent on the lower than on the upper limb. In contrast to the medieval population, the recent population had higher FA and DA values.
Thus, we propose that people from this medieval population were subjected to lower developmental stress than the recent sample.