Population of Ancient Sirmium

Abstract

This paper presents the paleodemographic structure of people in the 1st–5th century AD in Sirmium, their economic and social status, level of sanitary conditions, nutrition and health care, diseases which directly left traces on osteological material, and diseases that left no visible marks on bones, and may indeed have been the direct cause of death of people in ancient Sirmium. Based on our research, we can conclude, although the sample is not particularly large, that the quality of life in Sirmium in the 1st–5th century AD, especially at the transition from the 3rd to the 4th century, was at an enviable level.