A Case of Systemic Connective Tissue Disorder in a Pazyryk Male from the Altai Mountains

Abstract

We present the results of an anthropological and paleopathological study of a male skeleton from a Pazyryk kurgan 1 burial 1 at Ak-Alakha-1, the Altai Mountains. The archaeological context testifi es to a rather high social status of this person. His appearance was modeled using a modern facial reconstruction method. The combination of craniometric and anthropometric traits indicates a brachycranic Caucasoid type, which predominated in the male population of the Volga-Ural region and Western Kazakhstan in 600–200 BC. The individual suffered from a systemic disorder of the connective tissue affecting virtually all parts of the skeleton. The case is unique, and the condition is diagnosed as DISH—diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, possibly caused by grave metabolic and endocrine disorders. Judging by his physical type, the male was not native to the Altai Mountains and belonged to a population that was not genetically adapted to that region. This may account for the severity of the rheumatoid disorder, which was aggravated by 4th degree osteoporosis of lumbar vertebrae and pelvic bones and by traumatic lesions of the shoulder girdle.