East Kirk of St Nicholas dig October 2007
East Kirk of St Nicholas dig – October 2007
Paul Duffy, human remains specialist, writes.
It’s been a busy summer indeed since the last time I wrote. The skeletal material from the post excavation cleaning has continued to be regularly transferred to the lab in Glasgow providing plenty to keep the team occupied. Whilst the rest of you have been enjoying the glorious hot summer days (?!) we have been working away in our basement lab with only the quality of the radio reception to give us an indication of what the weather is like outside (poor = sunny, good = raining for those that are interested!). Luckily the fantastic preservation of a lot of the material and the scope of the collection has allowed us to make plenty more exciting identifications of traumatic injury, disease and other skeletal conditions like the sharp force trauma identified on the individual below.
This young male has suffered a series of blows to the head from a sharp bladed weapon. In the right of the picture you can see where a blade has sliced through the upper left portion of the mouth removing part of the upper jaw and teeth. A second injury is clearly visible on the forehead. In total eight separate injuries were identified on the skull suggesting the individual died a very violent death.
In contrast though, much of the recording we do is much more routine. Of particular interest to us as biological anthropologists is the stature of individuals from the assemblage, that is, what height they were at the time of death. Height is related to may things including genetic inheritance, but is strongly influenced by the nutrition we receive both as adults and particularly as children. I explained last time how certain diseases such as rickets can result in altered appearance, but it is as important to realise that we literally become what we eat – diets rich in calcium and vitamins and nutrients from fresh fruit and vegetables allow us to grow into adulthood as tall as we possibly can.
The picture above shows how we begin to estimate living stature from skeletal individuals. Using a piece of equipment called an osteometric board, intact and undamaged long bones from each individual skeleton are carefully measured.
These measurements are logged, and later used in a series of mathematical equations which allow us to provide an estimate of how tall the individual was. The equations have been worked out and refined over the past 50 or so years and are based on literally thousands of measurements. However, due to the variations in human growth it is a height range we obtain, for example 164cm to 171cm (5’5’’to 5’7’’), rather than a precise height, such as 167cm (5’6’’).
The information we have obtained so far is still undergoing analysis. It will only be once the analysis of all the material is finished and we have combined these results with those from the excavations that we will begin to see significant patterns emerging from the data. In particular it will be interesting to see how stature changes from the earlier burials dating to before the pre 15th century rebuild of the church. At present, however, it is still possible to gain some basic information from the data.
The chart above shows the maximum height that has been recorded for adults of identifiable sex so far. As can be seen the heights of women range from under 5 feet tall to a maximum height of 5'8". The clear majority though are between 5'2" and 5'6" in height.
Comparatively men are taller, ranging from 5’4’’ to 6’2’’ with the majority of individuals measuring between 5’8’’ and 6’ in height.
On its own this information is interesting, and will provide valuable data with which we can compare other sites in Scotland and Britain to assess how the population of Aberdeen fared in relation to their contemporaries. When we look at the most recent height information provided by the Department of Health in 2005 it is, however, interesting to note that the average height for women in Britain in 2005 was 5’4’’ and for men was 5’9’’.
In this light it would seem that the height of the medieval and post medieval inhabitants of Aberdeen compares favourably with their modern British descendants. Many reasons can perhaps be suggested – for example the people buried in the church were probably relatively well off and historical sources suggest that conditions in the burgh were relatively uncrowded, perhaps promoting better conditions for access to foodstuffs and healthy growing. More certainly, however, it perhaps dispels some of the images of the medieval period as seen from TV and film, of stooped and stunted individuals shuffling about filthy streets. Certainly times and customs were different, but our evidence from the skeletons reminds us that the people themselves were often remarkably similar to us here in the 21st century.
Phew, I guess that’s enough skeleton science for just now so it’s back to the lab for me. Hopefully though, the skeletons this month have given you some food for thought for the next time you’re deciding whether to eat those Brussels sprouts or drink that pint of milk…
East Kirk of St Nicholas September 2007
