ИСТИНА

Fractures of the hands (carpals, metacarpals and phalanges) nowadays are very common in people of all age classes. Clinical literature indicates that a high amount of these fractures is not associated to machinery work accidents (e.g., Laugharne et al., 2013); therefore the frequency of hand fractures in ancient population should be high as well. However, fractures of hands, but also of the feet, are underrepresented in paleopathological literature. Only few papers mention them in combination with the fractures of the long bones (e.g., Judd, 2004). The reasons for their underrepresentation might be either the fact that the phalanges of hand and feet are often missing in archaeological material, or that these fractures are mainly well healed (pseudarthrosis is a very rare complication) and therefore are sometimes not clearly to determine. Or, as they are not as impressive and significant as long bone fractures in archaeological skeletons, they are just neglected. However, evaluating these fractures is very informative because fractures of these areas are in close connection to various activities and occupation. Different accidents cause fractures in different locations of the hand and feet. The best known are boxer´s fractures of the fifth metacarpal in interpersonal violence (Laugharne et al., 2013; Soong et al., 2010). Frequency and distribution of the several fracture types of the hands and feet will be described in different Bronze and Iron Age populations. Conclusions about the causing accident will be drawn from the fracture mechanism. A possible connection of the amount and type of fractures with the population´s subsistence strategy will be detected.