This study compares the morbidity and mortality of non-adults in urban and rural cemeteries between AD 850-1859. It was hypothesised that the development of urbanisation and industrialisation with subsequenot overcrowding and environmental pollution, would result in a decline in human health in the urban groups. This would be evident in lower mean ages at death, retarded growth and higher rates of childhood stress and chronic infection in the children living in the urbanised environments. Non-adult skeletons were examined from Raunds Furnells in Northamptonshire (Anglo- Saxon), St. Helen-on-the-Walls in York (later medieval, urban), Wharrarn Percy in Yorkshire (later medieval, rural) and from the crypt of Christ Church Spitalfields, in London (AD 1729-1859). The results showed that it was industrialisation, rather than urbanisation that was most detrimental to child health. Weaning ages declined from two years in the Anglo-Saxon period to one year in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Industrialisation was characterised by a lower mean age at death, growth retardation and an increase in the prevalence of rickets and scurvy. Although higher rates of dental disease and matemal stress were apparent in the urbanised samples, respiratory diseases were more common in the rural areas. Growth profiles suggested that environmental factors were similar in the urban and rural communities in the later medieval period. However, there was evidence that employment had a detrimental effect on the health of later medieval apprentices. This study demonstrates the importance of non-adult remains in addressing issues of health and adaptation in the past and, the validity of using skeletal material to measure environmental stress.

No description available.

L'objet de ce travail est d'étudier le système de représentation qu'avaient les Égyptiens du cerveau, à travers une recherchelexicographique, incluant textes médicaux et textes funéraires. La connaissance que nous avons de la conception du cerveau, en Égypte ancienne, est notre propre représentation de la leur. Une approche des connaissances médicales, grâce à l'étude des textes médicaux, notamment, le papyrus Edwin Smith, sera confrontée à celle des momies, dont lapathologie cérébrale ou spinale a pu faire l'objet d'un diagnostic rétrospectif. L'étude des textes funéraires, en particulier, le Rituel de l'Embaumement, donnera de nouveaux éléments, permettant la recherche de la signification rituelle du traitement de l'endocrâne, incluant ou non une excérébration, comparée à l'utilité de cette pratique pour la conservation de la momie. Une étude de momies, centrée sur le traitement du crâne, rassemblant « éléments durs » et « éléments mous », complètera les données fournies par les textes égyptiens, à travers une approche de l'évolution des pratiques funéraires. / The object of this work is the study of the system of representation that had the Egyptians about the brain, through a lexicographical research, with medical and funerary texts included. The knowledge that we have from the conception of the brain, in Ancient Egypt, is our own representation of their. An access to medical texts, more particularly, the papyrus EdwinSmith, will be compared with mummies’ study, the cerebral or spinal diseases of whom could be the subject of etrospective diagnosis. The study of funerary texts, particularly, the Embalming Ritual, will give new elements, which allowed the research of ritual signification of skull’s treatment, including or not an excerebration, compared to the usefulness of thispractice for the conservation of the mummy. A study of mummies, focused on skull’s treatment, reassembling « hard elements » and « soft elements », will complete the ideas given by Egyptian texts, through an approach of the evolution of funerary texts.

Historic-archaeological research on the Alamanni, an early medieval population in the periphery of the Frankish Empire, primarily focuses on themes such as their military character or issues of ethnicity, while the actual functioning of Alamannic societies remains conjectural. Aiming at presenting an integrated approach to the concepts of social organisation and social identities in Alamannic populations, this study examines and defines Alamannic identity and society by creating a dialogue between the disciplines of archaeology, biological anthropology and socio-cultural sciences. A bioarchaeology of identity explores the Alamanni of Pleidelsheim and Neresheim via their funerary and skeletal evidence, allowing for the factor of different environments that influence the interactions of a community. A key theme is the investigation of indicators for biological and social 'status', by direct association of bioanthropological with funerary archaeological data, as well as by evaluation of present interpretations made from material culture in the light of bioanthropological analysis as a paramount focus. The results are interpreted in terms of social status and the perception of certain social parameters, exploring interrelations between factors such as sex and gender, age, status and activity for the entirety of a society. This research offers new perspectives on Alamannic societies and helps to comprehend Alamannic social organisation as a multi-layered phenomenon, emphasizing the importance of a biocultural approach. Beyond common perceptions, this study forms the basis for a new understanding of the Alamanni, as the results reveal a society that was complex and diverse, displaying its own characteristics in the Merovingian world.

This bachelor thesis is a compilation of previous master and bachelor theses written by osteology students at Högskolan på Gotland and Uppsala University Campus Gotland, with a focus on palaeopathology in individuals from the island of Gotland, from the Stone Age through the Middle Ages. The purpose of this thesis is to shed light on the history of disease on the island of Gotland on a bigger scale than previous theses have done. Most master and bachelor theses have typically focused on one site or settlement, set in a particular time period in their study, whereas I chose to combine all of the studies into one cohesive examination of all disease surveyable in the skeleton of these individuals. This, in order to see if there are differences to be found in the various time periods, or even differences among the population within a specific time period. And there are some differences to be seen, indeed; most notably perhaps between the Iron Age and the Middle Ages, where a difference in the dental health can clearly be seen. When comparing the other time periods however, caution must be advised; the skeletal material is lacking in most eras other than the Iron Age and the Middle Ages.

This study compares the morbidity and mortality of non-adults in urban and rural cemeteries between AD 850-1859 It was hypothesised that the development of urbanisation and industrialisation with subsequenot overcrowding and environmental pollution, would result in a decline in human health in the urban groups. This would be evident in lower mean ages at death, retarded growth and higher rates of childhood stress and chronic infection in the children living in the urbanised environments. Non-adult skeletons were examined from Raunds Furnells in Northamptonshire (Anglo- Saxon), St. Helen-on-the-Walls in York (later medieval, urban), Wharrarn Percy in Yorkshire (later medieval, rural) and from the crypt of Christ Church Spitalfields, in London (AD 1729-1859). The results showed that it was industrialisation, rather than urbanisation that was most detrimental to child health. Weaning ages declined from two years in the Anglo-Saxon period to one year in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Industrialisation was characterised by a lower mean age at death, growth retardation and an increase in the prevalence of rickets and scurvy. Although higher rates of dental disease and matemal stress were apparent in the urbanised samples, respiratory diseases were more common in the rural areas. Growth profiles suggested that environmental factors were similar in the urban and rural communities in the later medieval period. However, there was evidence that employment had a detrimental effect on the health of later medieval apprentices. This study demonstrates the importance of non-adult remains in addressing issues of health and adaptation in the past and, the validity of using skeletal material to measure environmental stress. / University of Bradford Studentship

The study of human palaeopathology has developed considerably in the last three decades resulting in a structured and standardised framework of practice, based upon skeletal lesion patterning and differential diagnosis. By comparison, disarticulated zooarchaeological assemblages have precluded the observation of lesion distributions, resulting in a dearth of information regarding differential diagnosis and a lack of standard palaeopathological recording methods. Therefore, zoopalaeopathology has been restricted to the analysis of localised pathologies and ‘interesting specimens’. Under present circumstances, researchers can draw little confidence that the routine recording of palaeopathological lesions, their description or differential diagnosis will ever form a standard part of zooarchaeological analysis. This has impeded the understanding of animal disease in past society and, in particular, has restricted the study of systemic disease. This research tackles this by combining the disciplines of human palaeopathology and zoopalaeopathology and focusing on zoonotic disease. The primary aim of this research was to investigate the skeletal manifestation of bTB in cattle, sheep/goat and pig to establish differential diagnostic criteria for its identification in zooarchaeological assemblages. Methods commonplace in human palaeopathology were adapted and applied to zoopalaeopathology, in addition to radiography and aDNA analysis. The results emphasise the difficulties but also the potential associated with the identification of systemic diseases in zooarchaeological assemblages. An approach to the classification of potentially infectious lesions is presented that enables the calculation of crude prevalence in disarticulated assemblages. In addition, the potential for a DNA analysis to shed further light on animal disease in the past is emphasised. / Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) / Many of the images have been removed from the online version due to copyright restrictions. The embargo period for the thesis ended: 16th January 2018.

Humans, like all animal species, are subject to Bergmann's (1847) and Allen's (1877) environmental rules which summarize physical adaptations to the natural environment. However, humans are in addition cultural animals and other bio-cultural factors such as social, economic and political status, general health, and nutrition, have a noticeable influence on stature and body proportions. Importantly, socio-economic status has a powerful influence on stature, which has been used to elucidate status differences in past societies (Bogin and Loucky, 1997; Floud et al., 1990; Schutkowski, 2000a). Furthermore, bio-cultural factors influence all dimensions of the human body, including weight, relative limb length, and relative length of the different limb segments. Given minimal migration and shared natural environments, all populations in this study, coming as they do from the last 2000 years of English history, should demonstrate similar morphology (c. f Ruff, 1994) if climatic variables were the only influence on stature and body proportions. In order to assess such bio-cultural factors in individuals from archaeological populations, skeletal populations from sites such as known leprosaria and medieval hospitals, rural and urban parish cemeteries, victims from the battle of Towton in A. D. 1461, and individuals from monastic cemeteries were analysed. The osteometric data from these populations were assessedfo r within and between population variability and indicate effects of bio-cultural factors on attained body proportions and stature. The results indicate a strong relationship between bio-cultural factors and body proportions, body mass index, prevalence of pathologies, sexual dimorphism, secular trend, and general stature from Roman times to the post-medieval period. The usefulness of stature, weight, and physical indices as markers of the bio-cultural environment is demonstrated. The main findings include: a greater sensitivity to external stressors in the males rather than the females of the analysed populations, rendering male statures more susceptible to varying bio-cultural conditions; a potential for very tall stature has existed in the analysed populations but was only realised. in very high status individuals in medieval times, and from the beginning 20'h century with better socio-economic conditions for the population at large; a less stratified socio-political environment, as in the late Anglo-Saxon period resulted in taller average male statures that a more stratified one, such as the medieval Nation-States; and medieval monastic institutions could have high status, e.g., the Gilbertines, or lower status, such as the mendicant orders, while leprosaria had the lowest status of all.

Quatre-vingt-quinze squelettes humains issus des fouilles archéologiques du cimetière protestant Saint-Matthew (ville de Québec, 1771-1860) ont été étudiés en associant deux aspects de la paléonutrition : la paléochimie et la paléopathologie. Le but de cette recherche est d’explorer la relation entre nutrition et état de santé pour cette population préindustrielle. Des informations directes sur l’alimentation ont été recueillies par l’analyse des isotopes stables du carbone et de l’azote du collagène des os, et des informations indirectes ont été obtenues par une quantification de l’état de santé des individus. Les méthodes paléopathologiques utilisées sont celles de l’« indice de santé » (Steckel et al., 2002) pour la comparaison interpopulationnelle, puis des méthodes comprenant des degrés de sévérité plus précis afin d’étudier les variations intrapopulationnelles. L’analyse de ces données atteste d’un état de santé relativement mauvais par comparaison avec d’autres groupes nord-américains contemporains, malgré une alimentation similaire. Des différences alimentaires ont été observées en fonction des données paléodémographiques (âge, sexe), mettant notamment en évidence une variabilité temporelle dans la réalisation du processus de sevrage. De plus, un régime alimentaire moins riche en ressources C4 (maïs, sucre de canne) et en ressources animales (viande, poissons, produits laitiers) a été constaté pour les enfants entre 2 et 7 ans par rapport aux individus plus vieux. Enfin, une relation possible entre la sévérité de certaines pathologies (cribra orbitalia et périostite) et la consommation des ressources alimentaires en C4 et/ou marines et riches en protéines a été observée. / Ninety-five human skeletons from archaeological excavations at the protestant Saint-Matthew burial ground (Quebec City, 1771-1860) were studied with respect to two major aspects of palaeonutrition: palaeochemistry and palaeopathology. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between nutrition and health in this preindustrial population. Direct information on the types of food consumed was obtained from stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of bone collagen, and indirect information was acquired by quantifying health status. Palaeopathological methods used are the “health index” method (Steckel et al.,2002) for interpopulational comparison, and then quantifications using more precise severity degrees for assessing intrapopulational variation. Data analysis revealed a relatively bad health status compared to other contemporary North-American groups despite a relatively similar nutrition. Food differences in relation to palaeodemographical data (age, sex) were noted, in particular about the variability of weaning process achievement. Furthermore, a diet depleted in C4 (corn, sugarcane) and in animal resources (meat, fish, dairy products) was noted for children between two and seven years old in comparison to older individuals. Finally, a possible relationship between pathologies severity (cribra orbitalia, periostitis) and the consumption of C4 and/or marine resources and animal products rich in protein was highlighted while comparing all the data.

No description available.