Osteobiographical Study of Tomás Carrasquilla

Abstract

In this article, we evaluate the skeleton of the Colombian author Tomás Carrasquilla for signs of pathologies and physical traumas to better understand his health conditions and his experience of pain throughout the course of his life. We apply life history and biographic techniques to historical bioarcheological research, analyzing various archival sources as well as the skeleton of Carrasquilla, who was a pluripathological patient who simultaneously experienced metabolic and vascular pathologies. Upon evaluating the author’s skeleton, we found multiple bone fractures that incapacitated him but were not registered in his clinical history. Moreover, we found four significant life events that modified the trajectory of his bone morphology. His osteobiography, combined with social science techniques and focuses, increases the interpretive capacity of Carrasquilla’s ailments and allows us to reevaluate and better understand his life as an outstanding historic figure. Thus, this study contributes to the redefinition and increase of the sociocultural value of Carrasquilla as a historic figure.