A case of calcaneal osteomyelitis from the prehispanic population of El Hierro (Canary Islands)

A right calcaneus with a deep resorptive lesion surrounded by an osteosclerotic reaction in its lateral aspect was found among intermingled bone remains in a collective burial cave of the island of El Hierro, in the Canary Archipelago. It belonged to an adult prehispanic man, with an estimated antiquity of ≈1000 years BP. The bone shows a penetrating lesion in the lateral aspect slightly superior-anterior to the calcaneal tuberosity, surrounded by a bone rim, and communicating with a large cavity opening cranially where Achilles tendon is inserted. The lesion is suggestive of calcaneal osteomyelitis. The initiating cause was probably a puncture wound, perhaps with a retained foreign body that caused the large abscess. Other infectious and non-infectious etiologic possibilities are discussed.