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Skeletal Health in Medieval Societies: Insights from Ancient Bone Collagen Stable Isotopes and Dental Histology

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Bone Health

Abstract

Human skeletal remains retrieved from medieval European archaeological sites are the most direct surviving evidence for bone and dental health, disease, and lifestyles of populations ruled by feudalism. Because the Middle Ages is a relatively recent period in human history characterised by phases of rapid demographic increase and decline (e.g. the Black Death pandemic), the surviving skeletal data can be interpreted alongside historical records. Consequently, medieval human remains form a valuable biocultural source of socio-economic status (SES) and skeletal health relationships that have been of utility in anthropology and can benefit clinical medicine. Multiple studies have investigated the many different variables associated with medieval lifestyles, using both standard gross anatomical examination of the human skeleton and microscopic indicators of bone and dental growth. Here, we provide selected examples of publications that demonstrate the effects of medieval SES on the human skeleton. We also undertake a short analysis of medieval English bone collagen stable isotope data to reconstruct SES-specific diet and of medieval English teeth to reconstruct episodes of childhood stress related to SES and weaning age within the context of historical textual evidence.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Appropriate ethical guidelines and codes of practice for the analysis of human skeletal remains from archaeological contexts were followed, including the code of ethics of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (2003), the British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology code of practice, and Mays S, Elders J, Humphrey L, White W, Marshall P. Science and the dead: guidelines for the destructive sampling of archaeological human remains for scientific analysis. Advisory Panel on the Archaeology of Burials in Britain, English Heritage; 2013.

  2. 2.

    See footnote 1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Justyna J. Miszkiewicz & Tahlia J. Stewart

  2. School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

    Chris A. Deter, Geraldine E. Fahy & Patrick Mahoney

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  1. Justyna J. Miszkiewicz
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  2. Tahlia J. Stewart
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  3. Chris A. Deter
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  4. Geraldine E. Fahy
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  5. Patrick Mahoney
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Correspondence to Justyna J. Miszkiewicz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Justyna J. Miszkiewicz

  2. Department of Medicine-Western Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Sharon L. Brennan-Olsen

  3. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Cantabria, Santander, Cantabria, Spain

    Jose A. Riancho

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Miszkiewicz, J.J., Stewart, T.J., Deter, C.A., Fahy, G.E., Mahoney, P. (2019). Skeletal Health in Medieval Societies: Insights from Ancient Bone Collagen Stable Isotopes and Dental Histology. In: Miszkiewicz, J., Brennan-Olsen, S., Riancho, J. (eds) Bone Health. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7256-8_2

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