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'Vargová L, Račanská M, Pračková I, Dzetkuličová V, Páral V, Nývltová Fišáková M, Vymazalová K, 2023: HISTORY OF SCURVY IN THE INLAND
OF CENTRAL EUROPE (CZECH REPUBLIC) –
A REVIEW. Anthropologie (Brno) 61, 1: 29-48'. |
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| Abstract | | In the history of medicine, scurvy is associated mainly with great overseas discoveries in the 15th and 16th
centuries. It is estimated that about 2 million sailors died of scurvy during this period of discovery. The occurrence of
scurvy in the past is therefore well mapped in coastal countries, but insufficient attention has as yet been paid to its
distribution among the civilian population inland. The presented communication summarizes the available information
on this disease, obtained both from literary sources and from the study of direct evidence on skeletal remains from
various dated archaeological sites in the Czech Lands (Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia), located in Central Europe. The
study also seeks to capture the living conditions of individuals with scurvy, with a special focus on the nutrition of the
studied population. It confirms the occurrence of this disease from prehistory to modern times. The endangered group
is always children between 2 and 5 years of age, which corresponds to the period when breastfeeding ends and there is
a transition to a solid diet. In modern times, scurvy is recorded mainly in social institutions (orphanages, foundling
homes), prisons and in armies in times of war. | | | | Keywords | | Paleopathology – Scurvy – Czech Lands – Central Europe – Vitamin C – Vitamin deficiency | | | | DOI | | https://doi.org/10.26720/anthro.anthro.23.02.07.2 | | |
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