International Journal of Osteoarchaeology

Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. 9: 267 270 (1999)

Intentional Cranial Vault Deformation in a

Slavonic Population from the Medieval
Cemetery in Devn (Slovakia)
RADOSLAV BEN" US& a,*, SON" A MASNICOVAa AND JAN LIETAVAb
a

Department of Anthropology, Comenius University, Mlynska dolina B2,

842 15 Bratislava, Slovak Republic
b
2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Comenius University, Mickiewiczova 13,
813 69 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

ABSTRACT

A case of skull deformation is presented in a young individual (probably a girl), from Devn Castle
dated to the Early Medieval Period (10th 12th centuries AD). The cause of deformation could be
the result of developmental disease turricephaly, or as a result of trauma in early childhood.
X-rays did not confirm the hypothesis of turricephaly. According to the classificatory system of
artificial deformations our specimen belongs to the circumferential type. This kind of deformation
is common in the Migration Period in our territory but unique in the Early Middle Ages. Copyright
1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Key words: cranial deformation; trauma; the Middle Ages

Introduction
From the 10th to 12th centuries AD the Slovak
territory was inhabited mostly by Slavonic populations. Due to its geographical position on
trade and migration cross-roads, allochthonous
migration was always common in this territory.
Because there is no analogy for the use of
artificial cranial deformation in Slavonic populations, we discuss an allochthonous origin for
one obviously unique finding of a deformed
skull from Devn Castle, in the vicinity of the
city of Bratislava (Figure 1).
Cranial deformations were relatively frequent
among migrants from the Ukrainian steppes,
where the nomadic people were carriers of artificial cranial modifications over the course of
many centuries. The impact in the west of the
practice of cranial mutilation by Germanic
tribes was even more pronounced and several
cases of artificial cranial modification in German
* Correspondence to: Department of Anthropology, Faculty of
Natural Sciences, Comenius University Mlynska dolina B2, 842 15
Bratislava, Slovak Republic. Tel.: + 421 7 60296474; fax: + 421
7 65429064; e-mail: benus@nic.fns.uniba.sk

CCC 1047482X/99/050267 04$17.50

Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

nobility have been described (C& ervinka, 1936;

Stloukal, 1965).

Archaeological features
Among the skeletal remains found at Devn, a
castle situated on a sheer rock cliff above the
confluence of the Morava and Danube rivers,
was the skull DH 5/72 (Figure 2). The first
settlements in this region are traced to the Later
Stone Age (50004000 years BC). In the Early
Middle Ages Devn was strongly fortified and
permanently inhabited by ca. 100 persons
(Benus, 1998).
Archaeological excavation of the medieval
cemetery, under the leadership of Professor J.
Eisner and Dr I.L. C& ervinka in the 1920s and
1930s, as well as Dr V. Placha from the City
Museum of Bratislava in the 1980s, unearthed
624 graves dated from the 10th to 12th centuries AD.
Inside the fortification a deformed skull labelled DH 5/72 was uncovered and identified in
laboratory conditions.
Received 18 December 1998
Accepted 28 January 1999

268

R. Benus et al.

Anthropological description
The specimen consisted of an isolated cranium,
with both the mandible and the entire postcranial skeleton missing. The extremely high (vertical index =96) and brachycranic (cranial
index =87) cranium shows marked deformation
in the front occipital and vertical aspects. The
facial skeleton is relatively flat and exhibits
several Mongoloid traits (naso-dacryal subtend=3.5 mm; dacryal index= 15, simotic subtend =2 mm, simotic index= 25). Orbits are
round in shape, shallow and high (orbital index = 102). The rounding of orbits is caused
mainly by increased orbital height. The cranial
base is shorter, the palate is wider (palatal
index = 95).
Considering the absence of sutural obliteration as well as the grade of dental eruption, the
skull belongs to a young individual who died at
the age of approximately 910 years. The sex
of the young individual is difficult to determine
unequivocally. However, all intentional cranial
deformations from the territory of the former
Czechoslovakia known to date, were observed
in females (Maly, 1935; C& ervinka, 1936; Lorencova et al., 1957; Vlcek, 1957; Lorencova, 1959;
Stloukal, 1965). The reason for the premature
death of the individual under discussion cannot
be stated from its skull.

Palaeopathological findings
Gross examination of the skull exhibits artificial
cranial vault deformation or turricephalic defor-

mation. An X-ray (Figure 3) discovered the

absence of frontal sinuses, very similar due to
bandage pressure on the frontal bone. However,
it did reveal neither symptoms of any congenital
defect causing turricephaly, nor symptoms of
cranial trauma leading to pathological
deformation.
The entire cranium exhibits traces of intentional cranial vault deformation caused by the
method of circular bandaging. There are two
observable imprints of bandage on the cranium,
the first one running horizontally and the second one vertically around the head, probably
including the mandible, too.
A classificatory system based on the type of
deforming apparatus divides deformations into
two categories: (1) the antero-posteriorly deformed type, including the tabula erecta and
tabula oblique (Dembo & Imbelloni, 1938) and;
(2) the circumferentially deformed type, including the Aymara type of Hrdlicka (Hrdlicka,
1922) and the annular externa and annular
oblique type (Dembo & Imbelloni, 1938).
According to the typology of intentional cranial deformations, the cranium under investigation belongs to the circumferential type.

Discussion and conclusion

The deformation procedure we propose is circular bandaging of the head. This type of intervention would usually be performed in early
childhood having used several layers of bandage
to achieve the intended shape of the head with
a high forehead.

Figure 1. Devin Castle (photo J. Zeman) and its location.

Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. 9: 267270 (1999)

Intentional Cranial Vault Deformation

269

Figure 2. The skull DH 5/72the anterior and lateral view (photo M. Poljak).

Cranial deformations were practised by various human groups including North and South
American Indians, Pacific Islanders, inhabitants

of Asia, and various European populations.

Analogous deformations from Slovak and Czech
territory are described from C& elakovice near

Figure 3. X-rays of the skull DH 5/72 anterior and lateral view.

Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. 9: 267270 (1999)

270
Prague (Maly, 1935), Vacenovice (Lorencova et
al., 1957) and Vyskov (Stloukal, 1965) in
South Moravia; and in Bratislava (Bachraty,
1965). All these deformations are of the circumferential type, and none of them was identified as being from the Slavonic population;
rather, they ascribed their origin to Germanic
tribes living in the Migration Period (Lorencova et al., 1957; Stloukal, 1965). Considering
the origin of our finding we also cannot exclude the influence of Mongol tribes or East
Russian steppe nomads (for analogy see Lorencova, 1959) supported by anthropometrical
analysis.
The reason for intentional skull modification
was usually either cosmetic, or social (as a
sign of high social status), or both. The existence of the Devn cemetery inside the fortification supports the hypothesis of a higher
social status for the individual discussed. However, the general absence of rich graves (from
the point of view of grave goods) throughout
the entire cemetery limits the hypothesis of
nobility in the case of the individual DH 5/
72.

Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

R. Benus et al.

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Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. 9: 267270 (1999)