A RARE MANIFESTATION OF SPINAL TUBERCULOSIS IN A 6th--5th CENTURY BC SKELETON (NOR ARMAVIR, ARMENIA): A MORPHOLOGICAL AND COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY STUDY.

The skeleton in question derives from the Late Iron Age monument of Nor Armavir and was unearthed from burial No. 19. The deceased was buried in an unusual position. In this article, we characterise the pathological bony changes indicative of tuberculous spondylitis. The skeleton was subject to a detailed macroscopic investigation. Besides age at death estimation and sex determination, a careful palaeopathological evaluation was performed on the bone remains. In addition, volumetric (3D) computed tomography was carried out on four lumbar vertebrae (L2--5) to complement the macromorphology-based diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]