The quiet life? Indications from a rural late Anglo-Saxon village

Louise C. D. Schoss, University of Kent at Canterbury - U.K.
Scott S. Legge, Macalester College
Gabor Thomas, University of Reading

Abstract

The human skeletal remains from Bishopstone, Sussex, England represent a late Anglo-Saxon rural coastal community. Preliminary skeletal analysis has indicated that the frequencies of trauma and disease within this collection differ from other Anglo-Saxon communities dating to a similar time period. Of the 42 individuals identified in the Bishopstone collection, 45.2% (19 of 42) show evidence of trauma and 33.3% (14 of 42) show evidence of disease. The trauma observed varies widely among individuals, ranging from cases of blunt force trauma, likely associated with cause of death, to more mundane cases of healed broken fingers. When compared to the frequencies of trauma and disease observed from two other Anglo-Saxon collections, St. Nicholas Shambles, London (White, 1998) and Raunds, Northamptonshire (Boddington, 1996), the frequencies observed at Bishopstone are markedly higher. At St. Nicholas Shambles observed frequencies of trauma and disease were 5.5% (13 of 235) and 7.7% (18 of 235) respectively (White, 1998). Similarly, in the remains from Raunds trauma is observed in 6.9% (25 of 363) and disease in 8.8% (32 of 363) of the individuals analyzed (Boddington, 1996). Although the overall size of the Bishopstone collection is considerably smaller than those from both Raunds and St. Nicholas Shambles, the collection could be extremely important to discussions of Anglo-Saxon life in a rural area. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Volume 132, Supplement 44: 209 (Abstract)