UNPRECEDENTED! Scientists discover skeleton with rare bone formation in Portugal

An excavation carried out by researchers at the University of Coimbra in Portugal has uncovered a skeleton with a rare bone formation. The research was published in a March issue of the journal International Journal of Paleopathology.

The skeleton was found alongside 151 other skeletons (106 adults and 45 children) during an excavation carried out between 2002 and 2003 in Praça Alexandre Herculano. This was the site of the old necropolis of the Church of São Julião.

The bones date back to the 14th to 19th centuries AD and belonged to a woman from the village of Constância. The woman was estimated to be 1.54 m tall and around 50 years old, and researchers believe she developed the condition due to a severe but unknown trauma.

According to the research, the condition, in addition to being bizarre, was painful. This was because the formation protruded from the thigh bone and consisted of a huge eight-centimeter nodule.

Archaeologists found the skeleton lying on its back, with its hands resting on its pelvis and a coin on its left forearm, with its head tilted to the right. The woman’s remains were well preserved, but incomplete, as they were missing the left femur.

Deductions about the skeleton with rare bone formation

Researchers from the University of Coimbra, Sandra Assis (author) and Joana Garcia (co-author), who are studying this skeleton with rare bone formation, made some considerations. The analyses indicate that the nodule created by the bone formation greatly impaired the woman’s mobility.

The lesion on the woman’s femur appeared where a muscle meets the inner thighbone and pubic bone. The lesion could be, according to the authors, a probable case of traumatic myositis ossificans.

During the research, the analyses considered that the injury may have occurred in a random accident or related to the woman’s occupation.

It is estimated that the trauma that caused the formation occurred between six and one year before his death. However, the cause of the trauma itself is unknown.