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Congenital synostoses are defined as rare abnormal formations of primary anatomical structures. There are three major classifications: (a) skeletal anomalies, (b) soft tissue anomalies, and (c) anomalies involving both skeletal and soft tissues. Radioulnar synostosis is the most common form of upper limb abnormality. Synostoses between the humerus and either the ulna, radius, or both have been documented but are far less common. Of these cases, the most common type is humeroradial synostosis followed by humeroradioulnar and humeroulnar synostosis. This study presents a case of a late medieval (15th–16th c. A.D) adult male skeleton housed at the Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy of the Polish Academy of Sciences with bilateral upper limb synostosis. Macroscopic and radiographic analyses suggest a diagnosis of congenital humeroradioulnar and humeroulnar synostosis. The right radius and ulna are hypoplastic. The left radial neck was reduced. The left radial head and the radial notch of the left ulna were absent. The radiographs demonstrate that the skeletal structures of the elbow are absent, suggesting fusion of the radius and ulna. A review of the clinical and bioarchaeological literature was conducted to assess differential diagnoses for the conjoined humerus, radius, and ulna. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first case of congenital humeroradioulnar synostosis in the paleopathological literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives In the first issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, E.A. Hooton noted the expression of Eskimoid characteristics in the Icelandic skull, one of which was mandibular torus. Our goal is to evaluate this trait in another North Atlantic population, the Greenlandic Norse. Materials and methods An investigation of mandibular torus was carried out on all Greenlandic Norse skeletons disinterred up to 1986 ( n = 109), along with comparative samples from Iceland ( n = 82), Norway ( n = 98), and Denmark ( n = 64). Torus expression was scored on a six grade scale with absence and five degrees of trait presence. Results Greenlanders and Icelanders show extraordinarily high frequencies (65-97%) and pronounced expressions of mandibular torus. More surprising was the almost complete absence of this trait in a Danish Viking sample (9%) and a significantly lower frequency in medieval Norwegians (48%). Discussion The dramatic expression of mandibular torus in the Greenlandic Norse and their contrast to related Scandinavian populations in Europe stimulated the collection of data from the literature and the database of Christy G. Turner II for 49,970 individuals in 335 populations. When plotted on a global scale, mandibular torus shows a strong clinal distribution with the highest frequencies in northern latitudes and the lowest frequencies around the equator. Although mandibular torus has some hereditary component, as indicated by family studies, the trait has a strong environmental component of variance. How factors of a northern environment, including climatic stress and dietary behavior, influence torus expression remains enigmatic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]