Examination of Trauma in a Neandertal Ulna

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the paleopathology of a Neandertal ulna from the site of Krapina (ulna #180). There has been debate as to whether it should be classified as a nonunion fracture or an amputation. To clarify the trauma of ulna #180, its morphology has been analyzed using diagnostic criteria from anthropological and current medical literature, with a focus on a radiological interpretation. In addition, bone specimens from modern humans with known trauma from the Mütter Museum (Philadelphia, PA) are used as comparative evidence. Diagnostic criteria have been created based on the literature and comparative skeletal evidence from the Mütter Museum to determine whether ulna #180 was an amputation or a nonunion fracture. Based on cortical bone thickness, lack of additional bony growth, a smooth rounded cap, no accessibility to the medullary cavity from the site of trauma, and the lack of eburnation, ulna #180 is characteristic of an amputation.