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

Knüsel, C. J., Batt, C. M., Cook, G., Montgomery, J., Muldner, G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4513-9263, Ogden, A. R., Palmer, C., Stern, B., Todd, J. and Wilson, A. S. (2010) The Identity of the St Bees Lady, Cumbria: An Osteobiographical Approach. Medieval Archaeology, 54 (1). pp. 271-311. ISSN 0076-6097 doi: 10.1179/174581710X12790370815931

Abstract/Summary

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.