"Warriors versus working men?" – An entheses and joint study on the Early Medieval skeletal remains of Thunau/Kamp The combination of two supposed indicators of activity on the skeleton, i.e. frequency of entheseal changes (EC) and osteoarthritis (OA), should give a broader insight into the daily activities of two early medieval (9th/10th century A.D.) skeletal populations from Thunau/Kamp, Austria. They were recovered at two archaeological sub-sites: one is a fortified settlement at the

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... berg", including a necropolis on a hill plateau within and next to the remains of a fortified manor house. Supposedly it was at least partially reserved for a "social elite" and included burials of "warriors" ("uphill site"). The other site is a large riverine settlement at the foot of this hill, a "suburb", where burials and a probably craft-production oriented settlement area were discovered ("downhill site"). Social differences between the two sites have been deduced from archaeological analysis (settlement structures and grave goods). The age structure in the two groups is very similar. The skeletons were analysed for selected fibrocartilaginous entheseal changes (EC) and joint alterations (OA), which were finally pooled functionally for comparison. Males and females were compared separately. A covariance of the features was hypothesized. Furthermore, sex and population differences, an increase of EC and OA with increasing age, and a social difference between the archaeological sites (in this case warriors versus working men) between the two groups were hypothesized and tested by the statistical group analyses. Only a weak association could be found for the covariance of EC and OA, a relationship is somewhat more accentuated in both male groups. During analysis, other differences were detected between the two populations. Both sexes in all groups show high frequencies in OA, but high EC frequencies were only found in males, and the increase of changes with higher age can be confirmed for all individuals in both groups [...]