SELECTED PALEOPATHOLOGY PROBLEMS OF CAVE BEAR (URSUS SPELAEUS)
FROM THE QUATERNARY DEPOSITS OF JASKINIA NIEDZWIEDZIA (BEAR’S CAVE)
IN KLETNO, POLAND
There are many descriptions of pathologies in fossil animal material (Nowakowski 1996). One of
them is a monograph concerning Bear Cave in Kletno which describes , among other pathologies, examples
of post-traumatic lesions visible on selected bear bones (Wiszniowska 1989, Wiszniowska et
all 1998). Bones of many species of mammals characteristic of the European Pleistocene were found in
the deposits of the Bear Cave. The bones of the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus R.) constitute 90% of the
bone material (40 000 bones and fragments) and they are present in the silt in all the researched parts
of the cave. The bone material, dated to the late Pleistocene was found in non-anatomical position.
Considering the importance of the site, it was agreed that it was worth describing the changes in the
structure of bone tissue in bears from the Quaternary deposits of Bear Cave in Kletno, and determining
possible reasons and results of those changes using classical and non-standard radiological techniques,
as well as selected other methods.
After the initial analysis of the bone collection kept at the Paleozoology Department of Wroc³aw
University, 1516 bones were selected for further examination. Several mutually supplementary examination
methods were applied, resulting in complex analysis of the bone tissue structure of the osseous
remains. Morphological, radiological, and histological analysis, apart from macroscopic and microscopic
description, were the methods used for the determination of pathological lesions as well as individual
age.
This research revealed the irregularities in the structure of the bone tissue, making it the first pathology
study of the Pleistocene animals from Poland.
A certain proportion of osseous remains of the bear population from Kletno had indication of pathological
processes of various degrees of intensity. Among them were: osteoporosis, various inflammatory
states, osseous infarction, and other possible pathologies. Osseous remains with pathological lesions
constituted 17.8% of all the bones analyzed, while in the case of the vertebrae they amounted to 21.1%
of all the vertebrae analyzed. Disorders of regular bone structure in the form of Harris’ lines were observed,
and possible reasons for their formation in a bear were determined.
These studies determined the possible limitations to normal animal functions as well as a possible
cause of death of the individual. The analytical results of the prevalence of diseases in the investigated
population shows that these diseases were not the reason for this species extinction during the Pleistocene
in this region of Poland.
Literatura / References
Nowakowski D., 1996: Paleopatologia – historia badan, perspektywy. Przegl. Zool., XL, 3–4, 197–204, Wroc³aw.
Wiszniowska T.,1989: Kopalne szczatki zwierzece. [w:] (red.), Jahn A., Koz³owski S., Wiszniowska T., Jaskinia
Niedzwiedzia w Kletnie. 255–279, Zak³ad Narodowy im. Ossolinskich. Wroc³aw-Warszaw-Kraków-
Gdansk-£ódz.
Wiszniowska T., Kuryszko J., Nowakowski D.,1998: Analiza mikromorfologiczna szczatków kostnych niedzwiedzia
jaskiniowego (Ursus spelaeus, Rosenmuler, 1778). [w:] Szczatki zwierzece jakozród³o badan nad
zrónicowaniem poziomów ycia ludzi w rónych okresach dziejowych. Wydzia³ Medycyny Weterynaryjnej
Akademii Rolniczej we Wroc³awiu. s.42–48.
www.geoinfo.amu.edu.pl/sas/09/sk/TOM%205_Badania%20archeozoologiczne%20w%20Polsce%20i%20Europie%20Srodkowo_Wschodniej.pdf