Bioarchaeology of the Near East, 9:45-54 (2015)

A case of hyperostosis frontalis interna from Deir el-Bahari, Egypt

Agata Bebel*, Anastasija Goliewskaja
Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw,
Krakowskie Przedmieœcie 26/28, 00-927 Warsaw, Poland
email: agata.bebel@gmail.com (corresponding author)

Abstract: Hypertosis frontalis interna (HFI) is a condition of unknown etiology characterized by excess bone growth that is manifested on the inner table of the frontal bone. We present here a case of HFI in a female cranial vault found in the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, Egypt. This cranium was discovered in a secondary context and cannot be securely dated. HFI is rarely discovered in archaeological contexts, and this is one of the very few cases identified so far in Egypt and Nubia.

Key words: cranium; bone growth; frontal bone; differential diagnosis

Received 4 May 2015; accepted 17 December 2015; published online 20 January 2016.

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