Pathological and normal variability of foot bones inosteological collections from Catalonia (Spain) and Lazio (Italy)

Abstract

A wide number of factors can affect the structure of the bones in the foot. In bio-archaeology, few studies about foot anomalies include population comparisons andchanges across time. We aimed to identify normal and pathological variability thataffected the foot in the recent history of West Mediterranean populations. Thus, weanalyzed change in occurrence of rare variants, pathological lesions, entheseal mor-phology, and their probable causes. We studied 518 pairs of skeletonized feet datedfrom the 2nd–20th centuries CE, from Catalonia (Spain) and the region of Lazio(Italy). Moreover, a Neolithic series from Oman has been analyzed for contrast. Wefound that calcaneal spur, hypertrophic peroneal trochlea of calcaneus, periostealreaction of talar neck, alteration of articular surface to lateral cuneiform, displacedtalar neck to medial plane, osteophytes in cuneiform-navicular joint, fused phalanges,and forefoot eburnation showed significant differences among countries. Contrastingby countries and dates, we noticed an increase in the frequencies of these variablesfrom Spain over the centuries. Conversely, there are no temporal differences amongthe Italian series. The period encompassing the 10th–19th centuries CE demon-strated the highest differences between countries. Lifestyle, occupations, footwear,and geography could be the origin of variability.