Children of the golden minster: St. Oswald's Priory and the impact of industrialisation on child health.

Lewis, M. E. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6224-0278 (2013) Children of the golden minster: St. Oswald's Priory and the impact of industrialisation on child health. Journal of Anthropology, 2013 (959472). ISSN 2090-4053 doi: 10.1155/2013/959472

Abstract/Summary

This study explores the disease experience of children buried within the cemetery of St. Oswald’s Priory, Gloucester from AD1153 to 1857. Evidence for ages-at-death, infant mortality, and the prevalence of stress indicators, trauma, and pathology were compared between the early and postmedieval periods. The skeletal remains of these children provide evidence for child health spanning the economic expansion of Gloucester at St. Oswald’s, from a mostly rural parish to a graveyard catering for families from the poorer northern part of the town and the workhouse. Results showed that the children from the postmedieval period in Gloucester suffered higher rates of dental caries (38%) and congenital conditions (17.3%) than their counterparts from the early and later medieval period. This paper serves to highlight the value of nonadult skeletal material in the interpretation of past human health in transitional societies and illustrates the wide variety of pathological conditions that can be observed in nonadult skeletons.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/32695
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science > Scientific Archaeology Science > School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science > Department of Archaeology
Publisher	Hindawi
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