An amputated leg in 18th–19th centuries central Spain

Amputation was probably one of the oldest surgical procedures of humankind. Most of archaeological examples of amputation are based on full skeletal remains with signs of one or two members removal; however, there are scarce evidences of the cut pieces. Here, we present a unique case and a complete anthropological study of a sectioned leg with unequivocal signs of a surgical amputation below the knee on the superior edges of both the tibia and fibula. In the chapel La Ermita de la Virgen de Vallejo in Alcozar (Soria), a small necropolis with eight complete individuals and a tomb with the amputations of at least another three was discovered. The necropolis was dated between the 18th and 19th centuries. Among the skeletal remains of the individuals recovered was a left leg partially wrapped in bandages that had been inserted into a clay vessel. A detailed study of the skeletal remains recovered was performed, and evidence of a comminuted fracture at the ankle and a reaction of the periosteum on the tibia and fibula were observed. The sex and age of the individual were estimated, and the remains are likely to correspond to an adult woman. All data indicate that the leg was amputated using the standardised surgical methods of the 18th–19th centuries. Moreover, the evolution from initial trauma to amputation can be reconstructed. The patient's survival is assumed because the other exhumed individuals were complete. Additionally, the study of the bone edges has allowed for the identification of the tool used in the operation. All this must be placed in a very poor social and historical context; the leg was found in a small cemetery of an isolated population from the Castilian plateau, suggesting an acceptable level of surgery was performed outside the medical centres of the big cities.