Alan R. Ogden

Morbidity, rickets and long-bone growth in post-medieval Britain—a cross-population analysis

Background: Vitamin D deficiency rickets is associated with skeletal deformities including swollen rib junctions, bowing of the legs, and the flaring and fraying of the wrist and long-bone metaphyses. There is, however, scarce information on the direct effect of rickets on skeletal growth in either present or past populations. Aim: The study investigated the effect of vitamin D deficiency rickets on long-bone growth in two post-medieval skeletal populations from East London (Broadgate and Christ Church Spitalfields). Subsequently, inter-population growth variations in relation to non-specific environmental stress (dental enamel defects), industrialization, urbanization and socio-economic status during infancy (birth to 3 years) and early childhood (3–7 years) were examined. Subjects and methods: Data on long-bone diaphyseal length dimensions and stress indicators of 234 subadults from Anglo-Saxon, late medieval and post-medieval archaeological skeletal samples were analysed using both linear and non-linear growth models. Results: Rickets had no effect on the growth curves for any of the long bones studied. However, pronounced variations in growth between the four populations were noted, mainly during infancy. The diaphyseal length of long bones of Broadgate were significantly smaller-per-age than those of Spitalfields and the other samples up to the age of 4 years, and were associated with a high prevalence of enamel defects during early infancy. Conclusion: Socio-economic status, rather than urbanization, industrialization or rickets, was the central factor behind the observed differences in growth among the post-medieval populations. The observed inter-population growth variations were only significant during infancy. Résumé. Arrière plan: Le rachitisme par déficience en vitamine D est associé à des difformités squelettiques, notamment des jointures costales enflées, des jambes arquées et la dilatation des métaphyses des os longs. On ne dispose cependant pas d’une information abondante sur l’effet direct du rachitisme sur la croissance squelettique dans les populations actuelles ou passées. Objectif: Etudier l’effet produit sur la croissance des os longs par le rachitisme par déficience en vitamine D, dans deux populations squelettiques post-médiévales de l’est de Londres (Broadgate et Christ Church Spitalfields). Dans cette perspective, on a examiné les variations de croissance entre populations en fonction d’un stress environnemental non spécifique (défauts de l’émail dentaire), industrialisation, urbanisation et statut socioéconomique au cours de la prime enfance (de la naissance à 3 ans) et de la petite enfance (de 3 à 7 ans). Sujets et méthodes: Des données sur les dimensions diaphysaires d’os longs et les indicateurs de stress de 234 squelettes de jeunes anglo-saxons de gisements archéologiques des périodes médiévale terminale et post médiévale, ont été analysées au moyen de modèles de croissance linéaires et non linéaires. Résultats: Le rachitisme ne produit pas d’effet sur les courbes de la croissance d’aucun des os longs étudiés, cependant on note des variations prononcées de la croissance entre les quatre populations, principalement pendant la prime enfance. Les longueurs diaphysaires des os longs de Broadgate sont significativement plus petites pour l’âge que celles de Spitalfields et des autres échantillons jusqu’à l’âge de 4 ans et sont associées à une forte prévalence de défauts de l’émail pendant la petite enfance. Conclusion: Le facteur central des différences de croissance observées dans les populations post-médiévales est le statut socioéconomique plus que l’industrialisation, l’urbanisation ou le rachitisme. Les variations de croissance entre les populations ne sont significatives que pendant la prime enfance. Zusammungfassung. Hintergrund: Vitamin D-abhängige Rachitis geht mit Skelettveränderungen einher, wie Schwellungen der Rippengelenke, Verbiegungen der Beine und verbreiterten und am Rande ausgezogenen Metaphysen von Handgelenk und langen Röhrenknochen. Es gibt aber nur wenig Information über den direkten Einfluss der Rachitis auf Skelettwachstum sowohl bei heutigen als auch bei früheren Populationen. Ziel: Die Studie untersuchte den Einfluss der Vitamin D-abhängigen Rachitis auf das Wachstum der langen Röhrenknochen bei zwei nachmittelalterlichen Skelettpopulationen aus dem Osten von London (Broadgate und Christ Church Spitalfields). Danach wurden die zwischen den Populationen auftretenden Variationen des Wachstums in Beziehung zu unspezifischem Umweltstress (Zahnschmelzdefekte), Industrialisierung, Urbanisierung und sozioökonomischem Status während der frühen (Geburt bis 3 Jahre) und mittleren Kindheit (3--7 Jahre) untersucht. Probanden und Methoden: Daten betreffend Längenmaße der Diaphysen langer Röhrenknochen und Stressindikatoren wurden bei 234 nicht ganz ausgewachsenen Anglosächsischen, spät- und nachmittelalterlichen archäologischen Skelettfunden unter Verwendung von linearen und nicht-linearen Wachstumsmodellen analysiert. Ergebnisse: Rachitis hatte keinen Einfluss auf die Wachstumskurven irgendeiner der untersuchten langen Röhrenknochen. Allerdings wurden deutliche Variationen im Wachstum zwischen den vier Populationen, vornehmlich in der Säuglingszeit, bemerkt. Die Diaphysenlänge der langen Röhrenknochen aus Broadgate waren bis zum Alter von 4 Jahren, bezogen auf das Alter, signifikant kürzer als die aus Spitalfields und den anderen Stichproben, und sie gingen mit einer hohen Prävalenz von Zahnschmelzdefekten in der Säuglingszeit einher. Zusammenfassung: Sozioökonomischer Status und nicht Urbanisationsgrad, Industrialisierung oder Rachitis waren die Haupteinflussfaktoren für die beobachteten Unterschiede im Wachstum nachmittelalterlicher Populationen. Die beobachteten zwischen den Populationen auftretenden Variationen im Wachstum waren nur in der Säuglingszeit signifikant. Resumen. Antecedentes: El raquitismo por déficit de vitamina D está asociado con deformidades esqueléticas que incluyen abultamiento en la unión de las costillas, piernas arqueadas, y ensanchamiento y desgaste de la muñeca y las metáfisis de los huesos largos. No obstante, existe escasa información sobre el efecto directo del raquitismo sobre el crecimiento esquelético en poblaciones actuales o pasadas. Objetivo: El estudio investigó el efecto del raquitismo por déficit en vitamina D sobre el crecimiento de los huesos largos de dos poblaciones esqueléticas medievales del este de Londres (Broadgate y Christ Church Spitalfields). Posteriormente, se examinaron las variaciones en el crecimiento interpoblacional en relación con el estrés ambiental inespecífico (defectos en el esmalte dental), la industrialización, la urbanización y el nivel socioeconómico durante la infancia (desde el nacimiento a los 3 años de edad) y la temprana niñez (de 3 a 7 años). Sujetos y métodos: Se analizaron datos de las dimensiones longitudinales de las diáfisis de los huesos largos e indicadores de estrés de 234 subadultos, procedentes de muestras esqueléticas arqueológicas anglosajonas de finales del medioevo y post-medievales, utilizando tanto modelos de crecimiento lineal como no lineal. Resultados: El raquitismo no tenía efecto sobre las curvas de crecimiento de ninguno de los huesos largos estudiados. Sin embargo, se observaron notables variaciones en el crecimiento de las cuatro poblaciones, principalmente durante la infancia. Las longitudes diafisiarias de los huesos largos de Broadgate eran significativamente menores por edad que las de Spitalfields y las otras muestras hasta los 4 años de edad, y estaban asociadas con una alta prevalencia de defectos en el esmalte durante la primera infancia. Conclusión: El nivel socioeconómico, más que la urbanización, la industrialización o el raquitismo, es el factor central que subyace en las diferencias observadas en el crecimiento de las poblaciones post-medievales. Las variaciones inter-poblacionales observadas en el crecimiento sólo fueron significativas durante la infancia.

Nothing new under the heavens: MIH in the past?

Aim: This was to study an archaeological population of sub-adult teeth in 17th and 18th century skeletal material from a London (England) cemetery for enamel defects including molar-incisor-hypomineralisation (MIH). Methods: Dentitions of 45 sub-adults were examined using standard macroscopic methods and systematically recorded. A total of 557 teeth were examined with a *5 lens and photographed. Ages of the individuals were estimated from their dental crown and root development stages and not from charts that combine tooth eruption with development stages. The dental age of the individual and the approximate age of onset of enamel defects was then calculated on the basis of the chronological sequence of incremental deposition and calcification of the enamel matrix. Affected enamel was graded macroscopically as: — Mild: <30% of the tooth’s enamel surface area visibly disrupted (this encompasses the entire range reported in most other studies), Moderate: 31–49% of the tooth’s enamel surface area visibly disrupted and Severe: >50% of the tooth’s enamel surface area visibly disrupted. Results: Of the total number of individuals 41 (93.2%) showed signs of enamel developmental dysplasia or MIH, 28 of them showing moderate or severe lesions of molars, primary or permanent (63.6% of the sample). Incisors and canines, though surviving much less often, showed episodes of linear hypoplasia. Conclusion: The extensive lesions seen on many of the molars displayed cuspal enamel hypoplasia (CEH). Many of these teeth also exhibited Molar Incisal Hypomineralisation (MIH).

Gristhorpe man: an early bronze age log-coffin burial scientifically defined

A log-coffin excavated in the early nineteenth century proved to be well enough preserved in the early twenty-first century for the full armoury of modern scientific investigation to give its occupants and contents new identity, new origins and a new date. In many ways the interpretation is much the same as before: a local big man buried looking out to sea. Modern analytical techniques can create a person more real, more human and more securely anchored in history. This research team shows how.

Recent Research at Duggleby Howe, North Yorkshire

Excavated by John Mortimer at the end of the nineteenth century, Duggleby Howe, near the source of the Gypsey Race in the Yorkshire Wolds, is one of the most iconic round barrow sites of the British Neolithic, not least because of Mortimers detailed description, his schematic section and the range of prestige goods associated with the burials. Despite the re-assessment of Mortimers archive by other authorities over the last twenty years, no absolute dates existed for this important burial sequence. This project re-examines not just the burial evidence, but also the associated earthworks of the barrow including the first geophysical and topographical survey of the surrounding causewayed enclosure. The report also provides a radiocarbon-dated chronology for the burial sequence and mound construction, as well as an assessment of the surviving human and faunal remains.

The Identity of the St Bees Lady, Cumbria: An Osteobiographical Approach

Abstract Using an Osteobiographical approach, this contribution considers the identity of the woman found alongside the St Bees Man, one of the best-preserved archaeological bodies ever discovered. Osteological, isotopic and radiocarbon analyses, combined with the archaeological context of the burial and documented social history, provide the basis for the identification of a late 14th-century heiress whose activities were at the heart of medieval northern English geopolitics.

An early eighteenth-century denture from Rochester, Kent, England

The authors report an unusual denture, fashioned from elephant ivory and designed for someone who had probably lost their teeth. It was found in a latrine pit together with pottery and tobacco pipes, indicating that it had belonged to a wealthy tea-drinker of the early eighteenth century.

Excavations at a Neolithic Enclosure at Lower Luggy, near Welshpool, Powys, Wales

Excavation at a cropmark enclosure in the Upper Severn Valley was undertaken to try and obtain material from which to provide relative and absolute dating for the site. Lying within an area rich in Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeology and in close proximity to a proven long barrow, the conventional later prehistoric date postulated for the enclosure was questioned. Excavation proved the site to have been a ditched enclosure with internal bank and a possible gate structure. Post-pits ran inside the bank. Finds were few but radiocarbon dates from the floor of the ditch proved the early Neolithic credentials of the monument which seemed to have continued in use for at least some 500 years.

Report on the Excavation at the Duggleby Howe Causewayed Enclosure, North Yorkshire, May—July 2009

The Neolithic round barrow at Duggleby Howe comprises a substantial mound surrounded by a large causewayed ditch. The mound covers a rich Middle Neolithic burial sequence, as revealed by Mortimers nineteenth-century excavations, and occupies a position on the northern valley side of the Gypsey Race, near to the streams source. Following the recent radiocarbon dating of the burial sequence and primary mound building, a small research excavation was undertaken across the ditch of the large, penannular causewayed enclosure that surrounds the mound primarily in order to obtain artefactual and ecofactual material from which to construct a relative and absolute chronology for the ditch sequence(s).

Human Remains from Middle Bronze Age Burials at Sidon, Lebanon: the 2001 Season

Abstract This report is concerned with fragmented skeletal remains dating to the Middle Bronze Age that were excavated in the 2001 campaign at Sidon, Lebanon. From 19 discrete burial units a total of 31 individuals were identified and assessed as to their biological characteristics. The majority of adults who could be sexed were male, many of them strongly built. The overall age distribution in this sample is characterised by a pattern commonly found in prehistoric assemblages, with high mortality during infancy and early childhood and a peak in adult mortality during early adulthood. There is a conspicuous occurrence of unusual dental traits. Jar burials, all found with remains of sub-adult individuals, represent a burial practice applied to children of a wide age range. Many burials are associated with faunal remains, mostly of sheep or goats, but also of large ungulates.