Olga Spekker

• PhD
• postdoctoral researcher at University of Szeged

Female burials equipped with weapons, a topic of interest among scholars and the general public, remain rare occurrences in archaeological records. The interpretation of such cases requires an interdisciplinary approach and a comprehensive evaluation of the available evidence, particularly regarding the sex and potential lifestyle of the deceased....

S ummary The nomadic Sarmatians dominated the Pontic Steppe from 3rd century BCE and the Great Hungarian Plain from 50 CE until the Huns’ 4th-century expansion. In this study, we present the first large-scale genetic analysis of 156 genomes from 1st- to 5th-century Hungary and the Carpathian foothills. Our findings reveal minor East Asian ancestry...

From ad 567–568, at the onset of the Avar period, populations from the Eurasian Steppe settled in the Carpathian Basin for approximately 250 years¹. Extensive sampling for archaeogenomics (424 individuals) and isotopes, combined with archaeological, anthropological and historical contextualization of four Avar-period cemeteries, allowed for a detai...

Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection that is well-known in the palaeopathological record because it can affect the skeleton and consequently leaves readily identifiable macroscopic alterations. Palaeopathological case studies provide invaluable information about the spatio-temporal distribution of TB in the past. This is true for those archae...

In recent years, our knowledge of leprosy in the past has substantially been enriched. Nonetheless, much still remains to be discovered, especially in regions and periods from where no written sources are available. To fill in some research gaps, we provide the comparative analysis of eight Avar-period leprosy cases from the Danube-Tisza Interfluve...

The macromorphological examination of identified human osteological collections from the pre-antibiotic era (e.g., Terry Collection) can provide invaluable information about the skeletal manifestations of tuberculosis (TB) in individuals who did not receive pharmaceutical therapy. With analysis of such collections, new diagnostic criteria for TB ca...

To give an insight into the different manifestations of leprosy and their biological consequences in the Avar Age of the Hungarian Duna-Tisza Interfluve, two cases from the 7th-century-CE osteoarchaeological series of Kiskundorozsma–Daruhalom-dűlő II (Hungary; n = 94) were investigated. Based on the macromorphology of the bony changes indicative of...

The aim of our paper is to present and discuss in detail the bony changes indicative of tuberculosis (TB) that were identified in a skeleton (KB67), unearthed from grave 67 of the 8th-century-CE cemetery of Kaba-Bitózug (Hungary). Furthermore, to provide the differential diagnoses of the observed alterations, with special attention to the cranial o...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0264286.].

The aim of this study is to describe four new cases of trepanation from the Great Hungarian Plain and complement two other previously published cases with new results from the 9 th to 16 th c. CE. Sex determination and age-at-death estimation were performed using classical macromorphological methods. In certain cases, radiographic imaging, 3D scann...

The aim of our paper is to demonstrate a middle-aged male (KK61) from the 8th-century-CE cemetery of Kiskundorozsma–Kettőshatár I (Duna-Tisza Interfluve, Hungary), who appears to represent the lepromatous form of Hansen’s disease. Leprosy has affected not only the rhinomaxillary region of his face but also his lower limbs, with severe deformation a...

Recently, the combined macroscopic and statistical evaluation of 427 identified pre-antibiotic era skeletons from the Terry Collection (Washington, DC, USA) revealed that there is a positive association between tuberculous meningitis (TBM) and four endocranial alteration types, namely granular impressions (GIs), abnormal blood vessel impressions (A...

In this paper, the authors give a new insight to the indication and preparation of trepanations through the analysis of a newly discovered case of 10th-century-CE surgical trepanation found in the material of Sárrétudvari-Poroshalom. We also intend to outline the implications of this particular case to the general methodology of trepanation researc...

Ancient human remains exhibiting bony changes consistent with osteoarticular tuberculosis (OATB) indicate that the disease has afflicted mankind for millennia. Nonetheless, not many pediatric OATB cases have been published in the paleopathological literature–from Hungary, only three cases have been described up to now. In our paper, we demonstrate...

The perpetual burden of tuberculosis (TB) keeps drawing the focus of research on this disease. Among other risk factors (e.g., poor living conditions, malnutrition, smoking, HIV infection, etc.), being in close contact with a TB infected person requires special attention. For a better understanding of the disease, paleopathological investigations c...

Abnormally pronounced digital impressions (APDIs) on the endocranial surface develop secondary to a prolonged rise in the intracranial pressure. This can result from a number of pathological conditions, including hydrocephalus due to tuberculous meningitis (TBM). APDIs have been described with relation to TBM not only in the modern medical literatu...

Tuberculosis (TB) was a large burden of infections that peaked during the 19th century in Europe. Mummies from the 18th century CE, discovered in the crypt of a church at Vác, Hungary, had high TB prevalence, as revealed by amplification of key fragments of TB DNA and genome-wide TB analysis. Complementary methods are needed to confirm these diagno...

Although endocranial abnormal blood vessel impressions (ABVIs) and periosteal appositions (PAs) have been considered as paleopathological diagnostic criteria for tuberculous meningitis (TBM) based on findings of previous studies, they are not pathognomonic for tuberculosis (TB). Therefore, their utilization in the paleopathological practice can be...

Paleopathological diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) essentially relies on the identification of macroscopic lesions in the skeleton that can be related to different manifestations of TB. Among these alterations, granular impressions (GIs) on the inner skull surface have been considered as pathognomonic features of tuberculous meningitis (TBM). GIs may...

Despite significant advances in the fight against tuberculosis (TB), it still presents a global health emergency. Therefore, a renewed interest and funding to the research of the disease and of its aetiological agents, including the palaeopathological diagnostics for TB, has sparked since the late 20th century to eliminate or at least control TB in...

Today, osteoarticular tuberculosis (TB) is a rare extra‐pulmonary manifestation of TB, developing in about 1–3% of patients. Although any part of the skeleton can be affected by tuberculosis, the spine represents the most common site of involvement (~50%). Spinal TB or tuberculous spondylitis typically affects two or more contiguous vertebrae, pred...

Study of specific infectious diseases, including leprosy, has been a research focus of Hungarian paleopathologists since the 1970s. This activity became more intensive at the beginning of the 21st century when a number of new cases were detected. The aim of this study is to review the evidence of skeletal leprosy from ancient times in the territory...

The aim of this study is to present new data on the occurrence of tuberculosis (TB) in the Neolithic period of Hungary. The authors present results of the paleopathological investigation of skeletal remains from the Tisza culture tell settlement of Vészto{double acute}-Mágor, one of the largest Neolithic tells of the Great Hungarian Plain. The rema...