Approach to illness and death of Vadinienses in roman Hispania (I-IV centuries)

The Vadinienses were a Cantabrian people who lived between the first and fourth centuries in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, northeast of the present province of León and the corresponding part of the current territory of Asturias. In this paper we study the possible causes of illness and death of the Vadinienses represented in their gravestones. The analysis of Vadinienses epitaphs shows that two-thirds of the deaths occurred in people between the ages of 20-30, a finding that is not interpreted as representative of the usual age of death at that time. The most likely causes of death are infections and violent deaths in sports competitions or work accidents. Analyzing females independently, almost half of the deceased were under the age of 20, being the main possibilities the deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth at very early ages.