Palaeopathological Analysis Applied to Forensic and Archaeological Studies
A special issue of Heritage (ISSN 2571-9408).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 863
Special Issue Editors
Interests: biological anthropology; paleoanthropology; palaeopathology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: zooarchaeology; taphonomy; palaeopathology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Palaeopathology is the study of diseases and injuries in organisms through the examination of skeletal remains, mummified tissue, coprolites and fossils. Besides these biological sources, palaeopathological studies can also be based on ancient documents, illustrations from early books, paintings and sculptures from the past. The application of palaeopathology in forensic and archaeological studies has proven to be very useful in aiding these research areas. Pathologies, traumatisms, stress markers and enthesopathies are useful in helping to individualise individuals in forensic cases. They can act as marks that differentiate a particular individual from a group of individuals that share similar characteristics such as sex, age, ancestors and stature. In archaeological cases, palaeopathological studies can provide information on the state of health of past populations, on how these civilisations treated conditions, on the use that these populations made of animals, the influence and relationship of animals with these diseases, as well as on the evolution of diseases.
This Special Issue aims to deal with the most significant research based on palaeopathology, ranging from bone (animal or human) remains to soft tissues, including the different types of sources. Innovative papers from the different research areas mentioned above are invited to contribute to this Special Issue that aims to bring together the latest advances providing key data on palaeopathological studies.
Interdisciplinary studies are welcome, especially ones regarding (but not limited to) bioanthropological, zooarchaeological, archaeological, forensic and veterinary sciences.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Carme Rissech
Dr. Lluís Lloveras
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Heritage is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- human palaeopathology
- animal palaeopathology
- diseases origin
- zoonosis
- pathologies and culture
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