Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Stockholms universitet, 2010. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

The essay will address paleopathological changes in 13 skeletons from S:t Hans parish church from the middle-ages. The osteological analysis from S:t Hans has been compared with literary studies that address the two villages of Fröjel and Västergarn on Gotland. The osteological analysis was done with the purpose to observe differences in health between urban cities and the country villages. The result of the analysis shows dental pathologies, degenerative joint disease, periostosis, and violent trauma. The differences between the city and the country villages shows more pathologies in Visby. This may be due to the larger urban population in the city compared to the rural one. Another theory about this result is that the individuals from Fröjel and Västergarn are younger and the paleopathological changes in the skeletons have not left any traces in their skeleton.

Diss. Stockholm : Stockholms universitet, 2007.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Univ., 2004. / Härtill 7 uppsatser.

This essay is a study of the dental health and cranial pathologies of five individuals buried in Domkyrkoplan cemetery, Uppsala, in the 17th and 18th century. Domkyrkoplan was the only cemetery in Uppsala city during the 200-year time period. The cemetery was placed in the immediate surroundings of Uppsala cathedral. The 17th century is a breaking point between the late medieval society and the early modern era in Sweden as well as in Europe, and this was a period of change for the inhabitants of Uppsala city. The purpose of this paper is to provide a deeper insight into the inhabitants’ health and life, as well as an overview of the town’s development over the course of the time period. The theoretical framework used in this essay is microarchaeology, and the results from the analysis apply only to the analyzed individuals. Although no attempt will be made to draw conclusions about the entire population of Uppsala during the early modern times, the results will be placed in a historical context. The historical context provided in this essay is the result of a literary analysis with three major focal points: demography and city planning, Uppsala cathedral and the cemetery, diet and health. The results of the osteological analysis have shown that the five individuals all suffered from malnutrition and/or iron deficiency at some point during their childhood. The individuals are believed to have belonged to the middle class in the early modern society, however, they seem to have lived through some sort of hardship which caused the malnutrition. The literary analysis concludes that Uppsala was subjected to a starvation catastrophe during the last years of the 17th century, as well as the plague shortly thereafter, in 1710. The osteological material analyzed in this essay is part of an ongoing archaeological investigation, which means that the dating and results used or concluded in this essay is preliminary and may differ from the final archaeological report, which will be released in 2021.

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.

In 1953, two individuals were excavated in Erik XIII’s alley, Visby, Gotland. After the excavation, the individuals did not undergo an osteological examination and were preserved for several years by the Gotland Museum. These two individuals were selected for this thesis to undergo an osteological analysis. The purpose of the essay was to identify and investigate the two individuals from Erik XIII's alley and illuminate the Viking age of Visby. A spatial analysis of Erik XIII's alley and the surrounding environment was carried out, to emphasize Visby’s Viking-age. Erik XIII's alley is in the northern part of Visby's inner city and is within walking distance of the two largest Viking-era burial grounds in Visby, Kopparsvik and Gustavsvik. Individual 1, who was judged to be a man, was approximately 182cm tall and was between 33-45 years old when he died. Individual 2 was judged to be a probable man and was between 17-25 at the time of his death and had an approximate length of 173cm. The individuals have only two common pathologies, which are osteophytes and tartar. Individual 2 had significantly fewer pathologies than individual 1, which may be a side effect of the age difference between them. In individual 1, enthesopathies were also identified, which were roughly consistent throughout the body, ligamente flava, pitting and osteoarthritis. Individual 2 showed changes from two different deficiency diseases, cribra orbitalia and enamel hypoplasia. The discussion is divided into three parts that emphasize the individuals, the comparison with other Viking-era individuals on Gotland and the spatial context. The individuals' pathologies are discussed, and possible interpretations of the individuals are presented. When the individuals from Erik XIII's alley are compared to other Viking-age individuals who have undergone osteological examinations, the result mainly varies. In the spatial context, possible interpretations of the graves are presented, which consist of an additional burial ground with different interpretations, as a burial ground for the king's company, or simple farm burials.

This bachelor thesis deals with the correlation between social status and health at the medieval church ruin S:t Hans in Visby. Osteological analysis has been performed on nine adult individuals from the site of S:t Hans. The material was obtained at Gotlands Museum and has diary number 7498/89. The main question was if it is possible to indicate some kind of correlation between social status, in other words the placing of the graves, and the pathological differences in the material. Age, sex, stature and pathological differences has been documented during the osteological analysis to get an understanding of the individuals health status. To understand social status at the site spatial analysis was performed. A grave was explained as ”high status” or ”low status” depending on where at the grave site these were situated. Graves in the church is considered to be of high status while the ones at the older church yard is considered to be of lower status because of its distance from the church. A hypothesis was that individuals in the high status graves would show less pathological differences than the ones in the low status graves. The results obtained from the study tells two different, but interesting, stories. Yes, social status and health status does correlate in some cases, while in other cases they don’t. / Osteoporos och osteoarthritis, då och nu

I denna studie studeras tre tidigmedeltida gravlagda individer från S:t Hans kyrka i Visby. Syftet med uppsatsen är att belysa tidigmedeltida hälsa i Visby samt studera begravningspraktiker. För att uppnå detta har en osteologisk analys utförts på skeletten med syfte att undersöka individernas ålder, kön och kroppslängd samt identifiera eventuella patologier och skelettala förändringar. Resultaten sätts sedan i kontext till de övriga individerna från S:t Hans för att ge ett helhetsperspektiv. Utöver detta studeras den rumsliga spridningen av gravarna i ArcGIS för att undersöka ifall några mönster uppstår bland de gravlagda som kan avslöja hur de valt att gravlägga dem döda. Teorin är att använda den sociala indelningen på en medeltida kyrkogård för att försöka förstå de resultat vi ser gällande hälsa och begravningspraktiker. Resultatet visar att den vanligaste sjukdomsgruppen bland de gravlagda var degenerativa förändringar. Det var även vanligt med infektioner, näringsbristsjukdomar och karies. Gällande den rumsliga analysen kunde inga tydliga mönster urskiljas. / In this study, three early medieval buried individuals from St. Hans church in Visby are studied. The purpose of this thesis is to highlight early medieval health in Visby as well as study burial practices. To achieve this, an osteological analysis has been performed on the skeletons with the purpose to examine the individuals age, sex and body length as well as identify eventual pathologies and skeletal changes. The results are then put in to context to the other individuals from St. Hans to give an overall perspective. Aside from this the spatial distribution of the graves are studied in ArcGIS to examine if any patterns emerge among the buried that can reveal how they chose to bury their dead. The theory is to use the social division at a medieval graveyard to try and understand the results we see regarding health and burial practices. The result show that the most common disease group among the buried were degenerative changes. It was also common with infections, metabolic diseases and caries. In regards to the spatial analysis, no clear patterns could be discerned.

This thesis focuses on health among children in the medieval town Old Lödöse (1100-1500 AD) in western Sweden. Through the study of health indicators (enamel hypoplasia, growth retardation and porotic hyperostosis) on adults (45 crania), children (31 complete individuals) and the commingled remains of children from severeal contexts. The results showed 66,7% (N= 30 of 45) of the adults and 67,7% (N= 21 of 31) of the children had presence of stress indicators. Although 61,5% (N=8 of 13) of the children and 37,5% (N=15 of 40) of the adults had presence of cribra orbitalia it manifested mildly on several of the individuals. Enamel hypoplasia was present on 53,8% (N= 7 of 13) of the children and 36,8% (N= 15 av 38) of the adults. The enamel disturbances occurred by the ages of two to five. Growth retardation was minimal and was within the standard deviation for each method. The population suffered from ill health due to varying degrees as a result of the urban environment, parasites and infections. Several of the individuals have experienced periods of stress during childhood. The population sample was compared to material from Skara (1100-1500 AD) and New Lödöse (1473-1624 AD). The comparison showed that there was similar health parameters in all three cities during the Middle Ages. / Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hälsa respektive ohälsa hos barn i medeltida Gamla Lödöse (1100-1500 e.Kr.) genom att studera frekvensen av stressmarkörer. Materialet bestod av 45 kranier från vuxna individer (både män och kvinnor), 31 individer under 20 år samt  209 enskilda element från omrörda kontexter (barn). MNI för barnen i studien blev totalt 56. De stressmarkörer som studerades var emaljhypoplasier, porotic hyperostosis (cribra orbitalia, cribra cranii, cribra humeralis och cribra femoralis) och tillväxtstörningar. Hos vuxna individer studerades endast cribra orbitalia, cribra cranii och emaljhypoplaiser. Resultatet visade att 66,7% (N= 30 av 45) av de vuxna individerna uppvisade spår av stressmarkörer medan 67,7% (N=21 av 31) av barnen (endast de kompletta individerna) uppvisade spår av stressmarkörer. Cribra orbitalia uppvisades hos 61,5% (N= 8 av 13) av barnen medan hos de vuxna individerna var frekvensen endast 37,5% (N= 15 av 40). Nästintill alla individer hade mild grad av cribra orbitalia, likaså för cribra cranii. Emaljhypoplasier fanns hos 53,8% (N= 7 av 13) av barnen medan hos de vuxna var frekvensen 36,8% (N= 14 av 38). Emaljhypoplasierna uppstod i åldern två till tre hos barnen och åldern tre till fem år för de vuxna individerna. Tillväxtstörningarna hos barnen var minimala och inom standardavvikelserna för respektive metod. Slutsatsen var att den undersökta population led av ohälsa i varierande grad från ung ålder och att flera har upplevt episoder av stress orsakade av bland annat miljömässiga faktorer som ökade risken för infektionssjukdomar och parasiter. I jämförelser med material från Skara (1100-1500 e.Kr.) och Nya Lödöse (1473-1624 e.Kr.) framkom det att frekvensen av stressmarkörer är högre, men att antalet undersökta individer är mindre i Gamla Lödöse. Förutom det tros städerna ha varit lika gällande hälsoparametrar hos barn.