ИСТИНА

During the last few years, many new burials of the Eneolithic and Bronze Age period have been excavated in the Piedmont area of the Northern Caucasus. The people are supposed to have been engaged in animal husbandry and they have the first wagons pulled byoxen in this area. So far, we have investigated 167 individuals from 13 different burial sites dating from 4200-2100 BC. The skeletons were examined with macroscopic and optical-microscopic techniques. Plain radiography and scanning electron microscopy also aided in diagnosis. The frequency of the mainly well-healed fractures in different parts of the body will be discussed. The highest frequency of fractures occurred in the hand and foot, followed by the spine and ribs. Age and sex seemed to play an important role in the distribution of fractures, e.g. ribs and spine fractures mainly occurred in older people. The fractures possibly related to interpersonal violence are more indicative of fist fighting than combat with the use of weapons as there was onlya small amount of healed or peri-mortem skull trauma inflicted by a weapon.