Behavior-induced auditory exostoses in imperial Roman society: evidence from coeval urban and rural communities near Rome.

Presence and features of auditory exostoses were investigated in two cranial samples of Roman imperial age (1st-3rd century A.D.). The skeletal material comes from the necropolises of Portus (Isola Sacra) and Lucus Feroniae (Via Capenate), two towns along the Tevere River, in close relation with the social and economic life of Rome. Deep-rooted differences between the human communities represented by the skeletal samples (83 and 71 individuals, respectively, in this study) are documented both historically and archaeologically. The results show lack of exostoses in the female sex, a negligible incidence among the males of Lucus Feroniae, but a high frequency in the male sample from Isola Sacra (31.3%). Auditory exostoses are commonly recognised as localized hyperplastic growths of predominantly acquired origin. Features of the exostoses found in the male crania from Isola Sacra (particularly in relation to the age at death of the affected individuals) support this view. Furthermore, several clinical and anthropological studies have pointed out close links between the occurrence of auditory exostoses and prolonged cold water exposure, generally due to the practice of aquatic sports, or to working activities involving water contact or diving. In this perspective, the differences observed between the two Roman populations and between the sexes (in Isola Sacra) appear to result from different social habits: the middle class population of Portus habitually used thermal baths, whereas it is probable that thermae were seldom frequented (if at all) by the Lucus Feroniae population represented in the necropolis (mostly composed by slaves or freedmenfarm laborers). As regards the relation with sex observed in Isola Sacra, the paleopathological data presented here seem to indicate some differences in thermae attendance and utilization between men and women, which has not been clearly documented so far by historical and archaeological sources.