The Field Guide “Paleopathology Collection at the University of Granada” presents an important collection of human remains located in Tower A of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Granada, within the Anthropology Laboratory. The origin of this collection dates back to the 1970s, when Professor Botella founded, together with other colleagues—Professor Miguel Guirao Pérez (human anatomy) and Professor Manuel García Sánchez (anthropology)—the Physical Anthropology Laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine of Granada. Thus, skeletons with different pathologies began to be incorporated, coming from old collections of the University itself, as well as from his own professional activity in the field of archaeology or physical anthropology. From 1975 to 2024, Professor Botella directed the Laboratory, which, several decades after its creation, was integrated into the Department of Legal Medicine, Toxicology and Physical Anthropology of the University of Granada. Today it is listed as a Unique Laboratory of that University. Over the decades, new materials have been added to this collection, which have been identified and diagnosed by Professor Botella and his colleagues in the department, and which today constitute one of the most important collections in the world. The collection comprises more than 5000 human skeletons of adult individuals spanning the Neolithic period, that is, from about 6000 years ago to the present day without interruption. Seventy-five percent of the collection is made up of individuals from the Bronze Age, Chalcolithic, Roman, and Mediaeval periods. The remaining 25% corresponds to periods after the Middle Ages and modern times. The entire collection was intentionally selected from the population of the Mediterranean region (southern Spain). This was performed deliberately to offer a view of human variability within a specific population. Therefore, it is a first-rate collection for studying pathologies over time. Of the 5000 preserved skeletons, only a small portion is incomplete because only the portion considered representative of the pathology was preserved. Logically, the only pathologies that can be observed in skeletons are chronic pathological processes since acute ones resolve (in one sense or another) quickly without leaving any trace in the bone because not enough time has passed. For example, pneumonia—a very common cause of death—cannot yet be detected in human skeletal material. However, degenerative processes, such as osteoarthritis, arthritis, etc., can. Similarly, although acute infectious processes do not manifest in the skeleton, chronic infectious processes, such as tuberculosis, syphilis, leprosy, etc., do. For this guide, the clearest and most representative elements of the collection were selected, although the most preserved remains contain some pathological processes, especially traumatic, infectious, and degenerative processes. Metabolic processes, tumours, etc., are much less represented in the collection, as is the case in any current human population. The data collection process includes all the information that a skeletal set can provide. Pathologies are among the most important aspects of collection.

The collection is constructed to allow for the study of human evolution in all its parameters and also serves to establish guidelines for, for example, estimating sex and age, etc., or new methods of anthropological research. In most cases, the complete skeleton is preserved. A significant proportion of these pieces correspond to individuals who died during the 19th century. In these cases, the pathological findings are supported by in vivo diagnoses using available diagnostic tools. The remains were preserved because the physician considered them representative of a specific type of pathology. Obviously, in the case of the oldest remains, in vivo diagnoses are not available. Because no diagnosis is available, only pieces with a precise and unquestionable diagnosis are included in these cases.

In 2018, the laboratory and the collection were moved to the new headquarters of the Faculty of Medicine, located on the Health Campus of the aforementioned university, where part of the collection displayed in showcases in the Anthropology Laboratory, which is the one presented in this Field Guide, can be visited upon request. The laboratory is also open without restriction to interested researchers and students.

In addition to the collection presented in this guide, the University of Granada has a collection of 500 skeletons of children with known sex, age, and cause of death.