Fracture Patterns in Ancient Egyptian populations from Old
Kingdom and Greco-Roman Periods
Zaki Moushira , Sarry El-Din Azza, Basha Walaa, Soliman Muhammad
Biological Anthropology Department, Medical Research Division, National Research Centre, Egypt.
Abstract
Background: Humans are constantly at risk of bone fractures which they one of the
more commonly observed skeletal lesions in archaeological collections and their
presence provides a unique opportunity to compare living and cultural conditions. The
evidence for fractures in a population may reflect many factors about the life style of
individuals, their material culture, economy, living environment and type of
occupation.
Objectives: The goal of this work is to detect types of long bone fractures and their
prevalence with sex, age at death, cemetery site and to determine if there is a
significant difference in frequencies and patterns of long bone fracture trauma
observed between the two ancient Egyptian populations from different sites, periods
and with different activity bases.
Methods: This study analyzed long bone fracture patterns of ancient Egyptians from
Giza and Bahriyah Oasis cemeteries. The long bones of 204 Giza individuals, Old
Kingdom period (114 high officials and 90 workers) and 1037 commingled long
bones from Bahriyah Oasis, Greco-Roman period were examined for fractures and
evaluated radiographically.
Results: The fracture frequency by bone element was significantly increased in Giza
population (1.97%) compared to Bahriyah Oasis population (.77%). Giza population
was characterized by forearm fractures, while Bahriyah population was predisposed to
diverse fracture locations. Oblique type was the most frequent type followed by the
depressed one in both populations. Most fractures were healed, well aligned, and
without substantial deformity.
Conclusions: The study suggests that the high fracture frequency of Giza population,
particularly workers who were involved in building the pyramids may be related to
work accidents and interpersonal violence, while Bahriyah Oasis population was
exposed to a low risk of trauma, probably due to the nature of their labor, where the
main occupation activities in the Greco-Roman period were textile and wine
production.
Keywords: Fractures, ancient Egyptian populations, cemetery site, accidents