An Iron Age Child from Pottenbrunn (Lower Austria): Archaeology, Paleopathology, and Evidence of Salmonella enterica Infection

The aim of this short article is to present the unexpected results of extended DNA analyses conducted within the framework of the ERC project MICROSCOPE (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig) and the FWF project CATA (University of Vienna). The analyses focused on skeletal remains of a 1.5- to 2-year-old child from the La Tène period burial ground at Pottenbrunn in the Traisen Valley, Lower Austria. The burial was accompanied by a necklace featuring an amulet-like pendant and two arm rings, suggesting a distinctive costume ensemble. Using in-solution capture and high-throughput sequencing, the bone samples were analysed, revealing a pathogenic infection with Salmonella enterica, which may have contributed to the child's death.