ИСТИНА

Fractures of hand and feet bones are rarely discussed as a special topic in paleopathological literature. Reasons for that fact are: small bones are often missing, the appearance of those fractures is not very spectacular, in many cases it is even difficult to recognize them. Their interpretation is problematic because there is a great number of possible reasons for their mechanisms of injury.Up to now hands and feet of 88 adult Bronze Age individuals from Northern Caucasus were examined. The most frequently fractured bones were the metacarpals (17/53 individuals) with the maximum of the right first and left fifth metacarpal bones. The frequency of fractures is decreasing from proximal to distal phalanges. Carpal bones are the less fractured, only two fractures of the hamate bones occured.In the feet the most frequent fractured bones were middle and distal phalanges.Most of the fractures were survived for a longer time and had minor complications like shortening or slight misalignment of the fragments of the joint surface.Fractures of the hands represent mostly Bennett´s fractures which are associated with boxing. One reason could be interpersonal violence whereas feet fractures affect mostly the distal phalanges which is more often due to unspecific accidents. Compared with recent clinical investigations several reasons of the high amount of fractures will be discussed. One reason can be due to the fact that during that period the first wagons with oxen were used and therefore the risk of accidental fractures of hands and feet was higher.