Injuries in medieval Cambridge

[Eldorado]

A study of skeletons from three graveyards has indicated that poor people were at greatest risk of injury in medieval Cambridge.

Researchers from Cambridge University used X-ray analysis to establish that skeletal trauma was highest in a parish graveyard for ordinary working people, called All Saints by the Castle.

The team found that 44% of working people buried there had bone fractures, compared with 32% of the skeletons at an Augustinian friary that buried wealthy donors alongside clergy.

“Life was toughest at the bottom – but life was tough all over.”

Full article with nice pics at ITV UK: Link

Medieval injuries: Skeletal trauma as an indicator of past living conditions and hazard risk in Cambridge, England.

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, at Wiley: Link