East Kirk of St Nicholas dig July 2007
East Kirk of St Nicholas dig – July 2007
Paul Duffy, human remains specialist, writes…
One of the occupational hazards of studying the human skeleton is that you begin to look at people in a different way. First impressions count, but the first impression you make on a skeletal specialist may be entirely outwith your control. Your height, the way you walk, the way you stand and even the way you look are all intimately related to your skeleton, the way it grows, and the way it functions. One of the skills of analysis is to understand not just the what the bones tell us, but also how that would have related to living individuals in the past. Unfortunately, sometimes you can’t help applying what you know in reverse to the people around you as well!
The analysis from St Nicholas has provided some good examples of the sort of changes that see as part of the rich variety of the human skeleton. Some conditions we see are relatively common, such as dental disease.
The individual above is suffering from an active dental abscess to the left side of his face, which you can see as the circular ‘hole above the tooth socket. This would undoubtedly have led to a painful and visible ‘gum boil’ and swelling of the entire left side of the face. You can also see that the teeth in general are in poor condition.
Dietary deficiencies often can result in visible changes, as seen on the lower leg bones of this infant.
The curve of the bones is a clear indicator that the individual suffered from the rickets, a condition caused by a lack of vitamin D which results in softening and bending of the bones as a result of bearing the weight of the body.
Even up until recently it was not uncommon for the condition to persist in to adulthood (known as osteomalacia), and certainly the condition in this medieval individual would have led to a distinctive waddling stride which some older readers may even remember seeing in their childhood.
Sometimes, however, the visible changes are just the result of bad habits.
This male individual displays distinctive ‘U’ shaped notches in his teeth which are most likely related to smoking a pipe. Years of clenching the gritty clay stem of the pipe between the teeth has worn down the enamel creating the distinctive and recognisable groove we can see in the photo. Similar changes can be seen on the teeth of a young male below.
Although these days the damaging effects of smoking are well known, when tobacco was first imported into Britain in the mid 16th century it was both expensive and scarce. Such changes may not have been all bad, therefore, and could have visibly indicated the status of the individual as someone who could afford a rare luxury item.
Some changes are more difficult to detect, but would potentially have produced equally noticeable results. The photo below shows a part of the cheek of an older male individual known as the maxillary sinus.
You can clearly see an area of bone in the centre of the photo that is pitted and looks roughened. It indicates that an infection was ongoing at the time of death, leading to a condition known as maxillary sinusitis. This is often linked to smoky or polluted atmospheres, such as would have been found in poorly ventilated medieval houses with open cooking fires. The condition would causes some facial pain for the individual, and may also have resulted in a stuffy and running nose, puffy eyes, and in some cases a severe snoring problem. Even across the gap of centuries we can feel some empathy for this individual, and perhaps even more for his sleep deprived wife!
One of the most intriguing things we have discovered so far is, however, not visible at all. A high number of individuals appear from St Nicholas appear to have the very end two bones of individual toes fused together
The exact reasons for this are still to be fully explored, but it is almost certainly inherited genetically. An interesting final though, for those of you whose family roots go back a long time in Aberdeen…!
For further information and comment, please contact judiths@aberdeencity.gov.uk