Abstract
Chondroblastoma is a rare primary bone tumor affecting young people comprising <1% of all primary bone tumors (Chen and Di Francesco 2017), first described in the early 20th century (Codman 1931; Jaffe 1942). Recently, the discovery of the first formal Early Neolithic burial ground at Aposelemis site of Herakleion in Crete, Greece, provided a unique opportunity for the retrieval of bioanthropological data from human skeletons. This paper reports the finding of a benign-appearing bone lesion in the distal humerus of a younger individual from this site. The clinicopathological findings of this individual (ca. 35–38 years old) with a small lytic, epiphyseal lesion surrounded by sclerosis suggest a diagnostic assessment of chondroblastoma. This report summarizes the findings and discusses the differential diagnoses in this unique case primarily based on inspectional and radiographic features, lacking the ability of cell and molecular histological investigations through laboratory medicine to narrow down the differential diagnosis of the bone tumor. In a retrospective review, it considers the plausibility of impairing elbow, wrist, and hand arthrokinematic abilities given the cadre of unexampled effects in modern medicine of the persisting and surgically untreated pathology, inclusive of the potential of metastatic complications that would have affected this individual. We deem this to represent the earliest documented case of chondroblastoma in the palaeopathology records of the Aegean region.