Arteriosclerosis in paleopathology. Are macroscopic findings well known?

Although clinical atherosclerosis is fairly common, it is a surprisingly uncommon finding in anthropology. Several cases have been reported in the anthropological literature but most of them are referred to X-ray studies and to computerized tomographic imaging but, as far as we know, no macroscopic findings useful to anthropologists have been published before. We present a case of an adult male skeleton scattered on a wooded area with remains of partially mummified soft tissues between right tibia and fibula in which macroscopic findings showed a cylindrical structure that could be confused with a root or a branch. This cylindrical structure was diagnosed as an arterial segment and microscopic findings revealed calcified eccentric fibroatheromatosis.We hope this case will improve the knowledge of this macroscopic appearance and thus be useful to anthropologists. © 2012 Elsevier Inc..