A Palatal Prosthesis from Archaeological Research in the St Francis of Assisi Church in Cracow (Poland)

The hard palate is a septum that not only prevents food from entering between the oral and nasal cavity, but also plays an important role during breathing or speech. The presence of cavities within it negatively affects the comfort of life of people with this type of impairment. Hence, in the literature one can find examples of the use of hard palate prostheses to restore the separation between the nasal and oral cavity.During archaeological research conducted in 2017–18 in the church of St Francis of Assisi in Cracow, the remains of a man with a cleft palate, who died at the age of about 50, were found. His burial is dated to the eighteenth century. Within his mouth, the presence of a palatal prosthesis was noted. This is the first case in Poland of finding an individual with an obturator tailored to its needs.The aim of the work is to present the structure and elemental composition of the found prosthesis and comparisons to the other obturators known from written sources.Macroscopic analysis showed the presence of an elliptical-shaped metal diaphragm and a textile “tampon” entering nasal cavity. The metal part of the prosthesis was made of copper alloy, covered with a layer of silver and gold. The comparison of the analysed obturator with examples from the literature indicates its great similarity to those used in the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.