Archaeologists described a fascinating puzzle. The medieval Italian man had a knife attached to his arm, and it looked like he went through life without a hand.
The Longobard necropolis in the north of Italy was where the skeleton was found. There were hundreds of skeletons buried there, as well as a headless horse and several greyhounds.
He was an older male, between 40 and 50 years old, and his right arm had been removed.
The hand was removed by blunt force trauma, but it is not known how or why.
They wrote in the Journal of Anthropological Sciences that there was a possibility that the forelimb was broken due to an accidental fall or something else.
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The ends of the bone showed evidence of being under pressure, which resulted in the formation of a callus and a bone spur. The sort of pressure that might have been applied is consistent with these.
There is more evidence on the skeleton. The man's teeth showed a lot of wear, with a huge loss of enamel and a bone injury. He had worn his teeth so far down on the right side of his mouth that it was likely that he had opened the pulp cavity and caused abacterial infections.
What is that doing with a prosthesis? The straps held it in place and he was probably using his teeth to tighten them.
There are dental wear and bone problems. Micarelli et al.
His shoulder had developed a ridge of bone from being held in an unnaturally extended position to tighten his mouth. If the movement was frequent, this ridge could have been formed.
The other male burials with knives had their weapons at their sides. But not this guy.
He had his arm at the elbow and it was laying across his torso. His butt was next to the knife blade. Archaeologists found a D-shaped buckle and a decomposing organic material at the amputation site.
This suggests a leather cap over the amputation limb, a knife attached to the cap, and a buckle used for fastening. The man lived for a long time after his hand was removed.
A Longobard male shows a remarkable survival after a fore limb amputation. The team wrote in their paper that he adjusted very well to his condition with the use of a culturally-derived device.
The survival of this Longobard male testifies to community care, family compassion and a high value given to human life.
The paper can be read in full in the Journal of Anthropological Sciences.
The original article was published in April.
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