Anthropological assessment of skeletal remains of a princess buried at the "Žuráň" barrow (South Moravia, Czech Republic)
Abstract
During an archaeological investigation of the Žuráň barrow (Moravia, Czech Republic) in the field campaign 1948-1950 a burial chamber was uncovered and labelled No. II.
Even though the grave was spoilt by the construction of a great barrow being built above it, a very rich inventory containing pieces of an ivory pyxis, ivory plates, gold fibres, glass receptacles, silver spikes and more artefacts was found. The artefacts discovered were dated to the 5th and 6th century AD.
Within the grave a buried female was found. Judging by the richness of the accompanying artefacts the buried woman was a member of the nobility of certain German tribes who had settled in Moravia at this time.
Anthropological exploration of her skeletal remains found her left pelvic bone had a very strange quadratic perforation in the centre of left acetabulum. Assessing the acetabular defect by CT screening and by histological exploration of bone tissue showed changes in bone tissue (sclerosis) at the margins of this defect caused by the healing process that had just started.
Histological assessment showed just formed healing process connected with formation of granulated tissue interrupted by inflammation process. It meant - that the woman survived a short time after the accident causing the injury.
The origin of the injury is not known, it was probably caused by an accident or by some kind of violent attack. Origination of the injury is subject of further research.