Elongated styloid process in late medieval skeletons from Uzdolje‐Grablje, Croatia

Abstract

Analysis of skeletons from Uzdolje-Grablje cemetery near Knin, Croatia, reveals three cases of an elongated styloid process. Elongation is a condition of unknown aetiology characterised by a styloid process that exceeds 30 mm. Although the prevalence of this condition has been reported in modern populations, we document for the first time elongated styloid processes in human skeletal material from an archaeological population.

First evidence of elongated styloid process in two female archaeological individuals from Córdoba hills, Argentina (late Holocene)

“…The irregular surface and the angulation of the three styloid processes that were recorded in our study suggest that they can be classified within the former. This has been also registered in other archaeological (Šikanjić & Vlak, 2010) and contemporary populations (Cawich et al, 2008).…”

“…In our study, we cannot conclude that the analysed individuals Regarding the prevalence of the elongated styloid process according to sex, there is no consensus in the literature. Although some authors registered a higher prevalence among female individuals (Balcioglu, Kilic, Akyol, Ozan, & Kokten, 2009;Montalbetti, Ferrandi, Pergami, & Savoldi, 1995;Prasad, Kamath, Reddy, Raju, & Agarwal, 2002), some others found the same for male individuals among contemporary populations (Camarda, Deschamps, & Forest, 1989;Cawich, Gardner, Shetty, & Harding, 2008), as well as in archaeological samples (Ginesta Armengol et al, 2003;Šikanjić & Vlak, 2010). The variation can be related to the sample selection and evaluation criteria (Skrzat, Mróz, Walocha, Zawiliński, & Jaworek, 2007), whereas in ancient contexts, it is also necessary to consider post mortem loss, taphonomic processes, and biases derived from the very conformation of the archaeological collections, in particular, those derived from rescue works.…”

“…Usually, it is referred to in case or site reports or analyses of museum collections. Within the first group, we can mention Ozdemir et al (2013), who found this pathology in an adult female individual of 2,000 years ago in Turkey, and Šikanjić and Vlak (2010), who reported the condition for three male individuals in a late medieval cemetery in Croacia. Within the second group, Ginesta Armengol et al (2003) have reported six (five males and one female) out of 1,331 individuals of Catalan collections but without chronology.…”

A paleopathological case of pituitary tumor, Eagle’s syndrome and ossifying fibroma

“…The styloid process was elongated; it was measured from its base to the apex, the point where the styloid process extended from the temporal bone [18], yielding a length of 27mm without the broken tip. The normal length is from 20-25mm [19].…”