It’s all in the hands: :  A study on fractures connected to sports in the Nubian skeletal collection of Abu Fatima dating between 2500-1500 BC

When researching the Ancient Nubians, historians often have to rely on the Ancient Egyptian sources to gather information. These sources can be subjective and nationalistic however, resulting in a negative preconception of Ancient Nubian communities. This can also be seen in the field of osteoarchaeology, where fractures found on Nubian individuals often automatically are connected to acts of interpersonal violence. Other, more positive explanations such as the practice of sports within the communities, are not often reviewed. This study looked at the remains of the human remains collection of Abu Fatima to try and find a connection between fractures in the hands and wrists and the practice of contact sports instead of interpersonal violence. For this research, 39 individuals were studied to determine the amount and types of injuries found in the remains of their hands and wrist. The collection was also compared to two Nubian collections connected to interpersonal violence (the...Show moreWhen researching the Ancient Nubians, historians often have to rely on the Ancient Egyptian sources to gather information. These sources can be subjective and nationalistic however, resulting in a negative preconception of Ancient Nubian communities. This can also be seen in the field of osteoarchaeology, where fractures found on Nubian individuals often automatically are connected to acts of interpersonal violence. Other, more positive explanations such as the practice of sports within the communities, are not often reviewed. This study looked at the remains of the human remains collection of Abu Fatima to try and find a connection between fractures in the hands and wrists and the practice of contact sports instead of interpersonal violence. For this research, 39 individuals were studied to determine the amount and types of injuries found in the remains of their hands and wrist. The collection was also compared to two Nubian collections connected to interpersonal violence (the Kerma collection and the collection from the NDRS project) and two modern individuals known to participate in Boxing from the Hammam Todd collection. As osteological studies connected to violence and sports often focus on injuries in the craniofacial area, if any injuries were found on the individuals their cranium was also studies in order to gather more information regarding the injury patterns. Different types of fractures and other signs of traumas were found on the human remains of Abu Fatima. Five parry fractures were found, all in the left arm. 17 metacarpal fractures were documented. There were no fractures in the carpal bones, but there were secondary signs of trauma such as osteoarthritis and ankylosis in hands that also showed other signs of trauma such as fractures. Two fractures were found on proximal phalanges. Three other phalanges showed signs of secondary trauma as a result of a fracture in an other bone in the hand. Lastly, four individuals showed signs of fractures on their cranium. The results showed that 10 of the 39 individuals showed signs of trauma in their hands or lower arms. These results implicate that the individuals from Abu Fatima suffered less traumatic hand injuries than the individuals from the rural sites of the NDRS project, but more injuries than the individuals from the capital city of Kerma. The injuries found in the human remains of the Abu Fatima collection do not support the hypothesis of a practice of contact sports within the community of Abu Fatima with certainty. The injury patterns found in the individuals from the Abu Fatima collection show similarities with both modern boxing individuals as the individuals from Kerma and NDRS, which are connected to interpersonal violence. A new theory has been introduced connecting the fractures in this research to the practice of Ancient stick fighting, a sport very popular in Ancient Nubia which has not yet been studied on possible injury patterns.Show less

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It’s all in the hands: : A study on fractures connected to sports in the Nubian skeletal collection of Abu Fatima dating between 2500-1500 BC