Yes / Sex assessment is key when investigating human remains either from medicolegal contexts or archaeological sites. Sex is usually assessed by examination of the skull and pelvis, but this may not always be possible if skeletal material is fragmented or incomplete. The present study investigated the potential for using carpals to assess sex, utilizing one hundred individuals of known-sex from the Christ Church, Spitalfields Collection, curated at the Natural History Museum (London). A series of newly-defined measurements are applied to all eight carpals. Inter- and intra- observer error tests show that all measurements are satisfactorily reproduced by the first author and another observer. Paired t-tests to investigate side asymmetry of the carpals reveal that some, but not all, measurements are consistently larger on the right hand side than the left. Independent t-tests confirm that all carpals are sexually dimorphic. Univariate measurements produce accuracy levels that range from 64.6 to 84.7%. Stepwise discriminant function analysis, devised separately for left and right sides, provides reliable methods for assessing sex from single and multiple carpals, with an accuracy range of 71.7 to 88.6%. All functions derived are tested for accuracy on a sample of twenty additional individuals from the Christ Church, Spitalfields Collection.

Arthritis is one of the most common manifestations of aging and is the single largest cause of disability in the UK, US, Australia, and Canada among people age 30 years and older. Osteoarthritis of appendicular joint surfaces exhibits alterations of bony tissue in and around the joint surface. The degree to which osteoarthritis of articular surfaces occurs as a function of age and sex can be resolved with cemetery populations of known individuals, such as the Terry (19-20th century) and Spitalfields (17-18th century) collections upon which I report (n = 322; 162 males and 160 females). Using the five point scoring system 0-4 of lipping from the Chicago Standards Guide I ask whether (1) age has an influence on the accumulation of OA; (2) sex differences are present in patterns of OA; and (3) population origin is responsible for explaining intensity of OA.

In recent years, public art has evolved to take a central role in urban regeneration in public places and, more recently, has been integrated into city branding. Published research and selected reports revealed that public art frequently opens up sensitive issues like social acceptance, ownership and cultural relevance, and showed that a participation-based approach can be used to address these issues. The literature review confirmed the main issues and the need for a theoretical platform to support future practice. The researcher has been a professional practitioner in the field for many years and was aware of the gap between contemporary practice and academic underpinning, resulting in divergent practices with unpredictable outcomes. Key elements found in the secondary research and overlaid with the fieldwork experience of the researcher were combined to create an analytical tool to analyse 46 practical cases of public art and design. This revealed five invitation elements [triggers to induce participation] which were found to be connected to four participation elements [patterns of participation]. A first conceptual model was formulated to investigate the interactions and transformation processes between these invitation and participation elements. The model was further developed and its validity was tested through two distinctive action-based research projects in which the researcher played a leading role. The projects confirmed the validity of the transformation process in the model and emergent pragmatic value. Expert interviews confirmed the validity of the model and understanding of how it may become sustainable, resulting in a toolkit for implementation to engender debate in the academic and practitioner community. The final theoretical model offers new thinking for leading public art and design practitioners and related stakeholders, to achieve consistent add-value.

While documenting the Old Spitalfields Market in London, UK prior to its renovation in 2006, I happened across a simple yet provocative statement- 'this will all be fields again'- inscribed into the existing pavement in an area just inside one of the eastern entrances. What it was able to report in just six simple words is the inescapable process of transformation to which the entire neighbourhood had been and will be subjected to. Rediscovered in a photograph years later, the presence of that message is explored here. As an instrumental narrative, this thesis invests in four parameters of architecture that are as much a reflection of my own struggle to articulate the experience of both literally and figuratively moving within the neighbourhood, as they are indicative of the neighbourhood’s propensity for fragmentation and fluctuation through time. Throughout this work, I have tried to place myself both on and in the moment of crisis between the opposed binaries of the material and immaterial city, and to write the necessary fiction that might allow me to hold them simultaneously in the present.

While documenting the Old Spitalfields Market in London, UK prior to its renovation in 2006, I happened across a simple yet provocative statement- 'this will all be fields again'- inscribed into the existing pavement in an area just inside one of the eastern entrances. What it was able to report in just six simple words is the inescapable process of transformation to which the entire neighbourhood had been and will be subjected to. Rediscovered in a photograph years later, the presence of that message is explored here. As an instrumental narrative, this thesis invests in four parameters of architecture that are as much a reflection of my own struggle to articulate the experience of both literally and figuratively moving within the neighbourhood, as they are indicative of the neighbourhood’s propensity for fragmentation and fluctuation through time. Throughout this work, I have tried to place myself both on and in the moment of crisis between the opposed binaries of the material and immaterial city, and to write the necessary fiction that might allow me to hold them simultaneously in the present.

No / A revised method for estimating adult age at death using the auricular surface of the ilium has been developed. It is based on the existing auricular surface aging method of Lovejoy et al. ([1985] Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 68:15-28), but the revised technique is easier to apply, and has low levels of inter- and intraobserver error. The new method records age-related stages for different features of the auricular surface, which are then combined to provide a composite score from which an estimate of age at death is obtained. Blind tests of the method were carried out on a known-age skeletal collection from Christ Church, Spitalfields, London. These tests showed that the dispersion of age at death for a given morphological stage was large, particularly after the first decade of adult life. Statistical analysis showed that the age-related changes in auricular surface are not significantly different for males and females. The scores from the revised method have a slightly higher correlation with age than do the Suchey-Brooks pubic symphysis stages. Considering the higher survival rates of the auricular surface compared with the pubic symphysis, this method promises to be useful for biological anthropology and forensic science.

no / I have been eagerly awaiting the publication of this book since 2000, when, as a PhD student, I was lucky enough to be able to visit the St Mary Spital excavations where I knew quite a few of the excavators and osteologists. It was apparent at that early stage in the research of St Mary Spital that this was a very exciting and important excavation and skeletal assemblage. This book does not disappoint.