Original paper
Occurrence of calcaneal spurs on skeletal remains of historical populations in the context of footwear development
Vaňatková, Kateřina; Vymazalová, Kateřina; Vargová, Lenka; Tvrdý, Zdeněk; Ernée, Michal; Pěnička, Robin
Anthropologischer Anzeiger Volume 80 No. 3 (2023), p. 295 - 305
published: Aug 1, 2023
published online: Mar 3, 2023
manuscript accepted: Feb 9, 2023
manuscript revision received: Jan 19, 2023
manuscript revision requested: Nov 23, 2022
manuscript received: May 30, 2022
DOI: 10.1127/anthranz/2023/1654
ArtNo. ESP140008003006, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
This communication is focused on monitoring the occurrence of plantar and dorsal exostoses (spurs) on the calcanei of skeletons from various dated historical periods. A total of 361 calcanei from 268 individuals were evaluated (prehistoric sites – Podivín, Modřice, Mikulovice; mediaeval sites – Olomouc-Nemilany, Trutmanice; modern age sites – the former Municipal Cemetery in Brno in Malá Nová Street, collections of the Department of Anatomy, Masaryk University, Brno). Differences in period footwear for individual population samples were taken into account when interpreting the findings. Health defects were sought for individual types of historical footwear, which could have a causal connection with the occurrence of exostoses on the calcanei. Plantar calcaneal spur occurred most frequently in the mediaeval population (23.5 %; N = 51), less frequently in prehistory (14.1 %; N = 85) and least in modern times (9.8%; N = 132). Similar results were observed for dorsal calcaneal spur in the attachment of the Achilles tendon, but with higher values. In the Middle Ages, its incidence was highest (47.0 %; N = 51), followed by prehistoric times (32.9 %; N = 85), with the least found from the modern age (19.9 %; N = 132). However, the results obtained correspond only to a certain extent to the defects in footwear in the relevant historical period.
Keywords
calcaneus • exostoses • history • foot • footwear • spur