Anthropological Evaluation of Pathologies Determined on Infants and Children Skeletons from Aedilicus Church in Pisidia Antiocheia

At the 2015 excavations in the Aedilicus Church in Antiocheia ancient city, five tombs were found in the main nave of the church. From three of the tombs dated to the 6th and 10th centuries AD, two infant and one child skeleton were found. In this study, the aim was to determine the physiological pressures on lives of the two infants and a child, and to understand the factors affecting their health and thus their growth. For this purpose, the age of death was determined according to the teeth eruption stages of children. According to anthropological studies, one of the infants is about nine months old, the other one is about 18 months old and the child is about six years old. The findings on the skull, face and long bones of the infant indicate scurvy, which is diagnosed as a consequence of vitamin C deficiency. It is thought that porotic hyperostosis on the cranial bones of the 18-months-old other infant can be related to iron deficiency anemia. It has been suggested that the level 1 and 2 wear of deciduous teeth of the infant indicate that this individual may have been fed with additional food for some time. On the other hand, lesions on the body bones of the six-year-old child indicate that it had probably a disability due to cerebral palsy (CP). All the infants and children were found to have retarded growth in their long bones. When evaluated in general, results exhibit adverse effects associated with sociocultural patterns and environmental conditions such as probable malnutrition and poor maternal care, although they do not give any definite data about the causes of death of two infants and a child in the Aedilicus Church