Found a unique skeleton of a medieval man: he has two types of dwarfism at once

On the territory of a medieval monastery in Poland, archaeologists discovered the skeletal remains of a man with two

forms of dwarfism. The man had two forms of skeletal dysplasia, including achondroplasia. This is a rare condition and has not been found in ancient skeletons before.

The cemetery is located in a small villageLenkno in west central Poland. Today there are only a few hundred inhabitants, but in the 9th and 11th centuries it was a fortified city with a small domed church near the center. In the 12th century, the Cistercians founded a monastery in the city. Around 1450, a cemetery appeared in the city, and until the 16th century, both monks and local laymen were buried there.

The Cistercians, or White Monks, are a Catholic monastic order that branched off from the Benedictine Order in the 11th century.

When archaeologists excavated the monastery cemeteryin 1990, they discovered more than 400 burials, including the body of a man marked 3/66/90. Carbon dating of the skeleton showed that the man lived in the 9th–11th centuries. But “the fact that the grave was located in the wall of the fortress is puzzling,” says bioarchaeologist Magdalena Matczak. “Such burials were not practiced in medieval Poland.”

Recently, scientists studied the skeleton in detail and madeAnother intriguing discovery: the man had multiple skeletal dysplasias, which are inherited conditions. They affect the development and shape of bones, cartilage, muscles, tendons and ligaments. In particular, the man likely had two different forms of dwarfism.

Having created 3D models, scientists focusedon the abnormal shape of several bones. A disproportionate skull, narrow canals for the spinal cord, short ribs and protruding pelvic bones suggested achondroplasia. In this condition, the person has very short arms and legs, a medium-sized torso, and a larger head than the average person.

Additionally, based on the man's turned elbows and high arched palate, scientists determined that the man had a rare condition called Lehry-Weill's dyschondrosteosis.

Leri-Weill's dyschondrosteosis ispseudoautosomal dominant disease, which is characterized by short stature, mesomelia (shortening of the middle parts of the limbs - forearms and legs), curvature of the long tubular bones, deformation of the carpal bones (Madelung deformity) and scoliosis.

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On the cover: remains Ł3/66/90
Image courtesy of Peter Namiota

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