Elizabeth Craig-Atkins

Weaning at Anglo-Saxon Raunds: Implications for Changing Breastfeeding Practice in Britain Over Two Millennia

This study investigated stable-isotope ratio evidence of weaning for the late Anglo-Saxon population of Raunds Furnells, Northamptonshire, UK. δ(15)N and δ(13)C values in rib collagen were obtained for individuals of different ages to assess the weaning age of infants within the population. A peak in δ(15) N values at about 2-year-old, followed by a decline in δ(15) N values until age three, indicates a change in diet at that age. This change in nitrogen isotope ratios corresponds with the mortality profile from the site, as well as with archaeological and documentary evidence on attitudes towards juveniles in the Anglo-Saxon period. The pattern of δ(13) C values was less clear. Comparison of the predicted age of weaning to published data from sites dating from the Iron Age to the 19th century in Britain reveals a pattern of changing weaning practices over time, with increasingly earlier commencement and shorter periods of complementary feeding in more recent periods. Such a change has implications for the interpretation of socioeconomic changes during this period of British history, since earlier weaning is associated with decreased birth spacing, and could thus have contributed to population growth.

A new multivariate method for determining sex of immature human remains using the maxillary first molar

OBJECTIVES This study investigated the use of sexually dimorphic metrics of the first permanent maxillary molar (M1 ) to determine sex in adult and immature individuals within and between populations. METHODS Ten M1 dimensions were measured in 91 adults (19-55 years) and 58 immatures (5-18 years) from two English populations, one of documented sex (Spitalfields crypt) and another of morphologically-assigned sex (Black Gate). Preliminary statistical analysis was undertaken to explore bilateral differences and variation by age and sex, followed by multivariate analyses to predict sex from dental metrics. RESULTS Both cross-validated linear discriminant analysis and binary logistic regression predicted biological sex consistent with known sex in 94.6% of adults and 90.9% of immatures. When functions extracted from the Spitalfields data were used to assign sex to Black Gate adults, consistency with morphological sex varied from 83.3% to 57.7%. A new function developed on Black Gate resulted in only a 4.8% increase in maximum accuracy but reduced bias. The immature cohort comprised 19 (52.8%) males and 17 (47.2%) females. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates substantial sexual dimorphism in a single tooth which is commonly preserved in archaeological and forensic contexts. It successfully assigns biological sex to immatures from 5 years of age with substantially greater accuracy than any other morphological or metric method. We suggest that accurate cross-population functions based on dentition require a trade-off between accuracy and applicability, and that functions extracted from populations of documented sex can be used to assign sex to other archaeological and forensic remains.

The role of infant life histories in the construction of identities in death: An incremental isotope study of dietary and physiological status among children afforded differential burial

OBJECTIVES Isotope ratio analyses of dentine collagen were used to characterize short-term changes in physiological status (both dietary status and biological stress) across the life course of children afforded special funerary treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS Temporal sequences of δ15 N and δ13 C isotope profiles for incrementally forming dentine collagen were obtained from deciduous teeth of 86 children from four early-medieval English cemeteries. Thirty-one were interred in child-specific burial clusters, and the remainder alongside adults in other areas of the cemetery. Isotope profiles were categorized into four distinct patterns of dietary and health status between the final prenatal months and death. RESULTS Isotope profiles from individuals from the burial clusters were significantly less likely to reflect weaning curves, suggesting distinctive breastfeeding and weaning experiences. This relationship was not simply a factor of differential age at death between cohorts. There was no association of burial location neither with stage of weaning at death, nor with isotopic evidence of physiological stress at the end of life. DISCUSSION This study is the first to identify a relationship between the extent of breastfeeding and the provision of child-specific funerary rites. Limited breastfeeding may indicate the mother had died during or soon after birth, or that either mother or child was unable to feed due to illness. Children who were not breastfed will have experienced a significantly higher risk of malnutrition, undernutrition and infection. These sickly and perhaps motherless children received care to nourish them during early life, and were similarly provided with special treatment in death.

Sanitation, Latrines and Intestinal Parasites in Past Populations

however, are among the most interesting in the volume. On the other hand, both archaeological and historical approaches reflect the wide range of textile studies today, with individual authors basing papers on the remains of cloth itself, textile-working tools, administrative and legislative records and financial documents. The geographical scope is also wide, ranging from Iceland to Poland, and Scandinavia to northern Italy; surprisingly, there is only one paper on England, limited coverage of the Low Countries and no papers on France. Presumably, this reflects the editors’ desire to break new ground, moving away from regions that have already received extensive academic attention. Despite the range of approaches and geographical foci, a number of themes occur and recur. Discussion of the regulation and quality of cloth dominate a number of papers, with several authors arguing that high-quality cloth was not necessarily imported, even in far northern Europe. The importance of production at rural sites is emphasised in several places, and contrasted with a system of regulation and long-distance trade that was fundamentally urban. Silk comes in for considerable attention, with a developing consensus that its use was not always confined to the very wealthiest in medieval society. There are also papers on less well-known materials, such as vaðmál and fustian. In general, the papers confirm the vital importance of cloth to the medieval European economy at both local and international levels. If, as the editors suggest, these papers represent ‘first building blocks’, then the field can expect some interesting developments in the future.

Using semi-automatic 3D scene reconstruction to create a digital medieval Charnel Chapel

The use of a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) has become a popular technique for the acquisition of 3D scenes in the fields of cultural heritage and archaeology. In this study, a semi-automatic reconstruction technique is presented to convert the point clouds that are produced, which often contain noise or are missing data, into a set of triangle meshes. The technique is applied to the reconstruction of a medieval charnel chapel. To reduce the computational complexity of reconstruction, the point cloud is first segmented into several components guided by the geometric structure of the scene. Landmarks are interactively marked on the point cloud and multiple cutting planes are created using the least squares method. Then, sampled point clouds for each component are meshed by ball-pivoting. In order to fill the large missing regions on the walls and ground plane, inserted triangle meshes are calculated on the basis of the convex hull of the projection points on the bounding plane. The iterative closest point (ICP) approach and local non-rigid registration methods are used to make the inserted triangle meshes and original model tightly match. Using these methods, we have reconstructed a digital model of the medieval charnel chapel, which not only serves to preserve a digital record of it, but also enables members of the public to experience the space virtually.