Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.2009, Page 143

142 ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
Summary
This paper presents the results of the analysis of chronic infections and infectious
diseases in a total of 142 skeletons from four separate skeletal populations from Christian
cemeteries in Iceland. These are the 11th-12th century cemetery at Skeljastaðir in
Þjórsárdalur (54); the 11th-14th century cemetery at Hofstaðir in Mývatnssveit (51) and
a combined group from the cemeteries in Viðey in Kollafjörður and the old cemetery
in Reykjavík (37), all skeletons dating to the 18th-19th century. The results showed
that six of the 54 individuals from Skeljastaðir had infections; one case of non-specific
osteomyelitis, one case of non-specific lung infection, three cases of tuberculosis and
one case of poliomyelitis. Three of the 51 individuals were affected in the Hofstaðir
collection, in all cases non-specific lung infections. Nine of the 37 individuals from the
Reykjavík collections had infections, five had non-specific lung infections, three had
diagnosable tuberculosis and one had syphilis. Although non-specific infections are
discussed, the focus is on specific infections, i.e. infectious diseases which are spread
by one person infecting another, and how to interpret them in skeletal populations
in light of The osteological paradox, as published by Wood et al. (1992). The osteological
paradox deals with the paradoxical issues involved in using an archaeological skeletal
collection, a group of dead individuals, to draw up a picture of the living society to
which these individuals belonged. In the discussion it is demonstrated that by keeping
in mind the points highlighted in the osteological paradox, that although analysis of
infectious diseases within a population might provide information about the health of
individuals, it will not necessarily shed light on general health within the population
as a whole. On the other hand it can provide information about other features of the
society which the cemeteries served, in the collections used here it was for example
demonstrated that infectious disease within a group may be ref lecting the size and
density of the society, and may even be evidence of a temporary change in health, an
epidemic. As such, the high prevalence of infectious diseases in the 18th-19th century
Reykjavík populations ref lects the beginning of urbanisation in Reykjavík during
that period, when the number and density of people living in the area becomes large
enough for urban diseases like tuberculosis and syphilis to become endemic. Because
of the low population density in Þjórsárdalur during the 11th-12th century, when
the Skeljastaðir cemetery was in use, the high prevalence rates of tuberculosis in the
population is unlikely to ref lect the prevalence of the disease for the entire period
during which the cemetery was in use. What it most likely represents is a temporary
situation, a tuberculosis epidemic in the valley.