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An Osteoarchaeological Study of Health in the Early Medieval Population from Rathfarnham, Dublin (97E0140) – A Comparison of the Dental and Skeletal Indicators and Historical Sources

A comprehensive osteoarchaeological study of health and lifestyle was conducted of the early medieval skeletal assemblage from Rathfarnham (Co. Dublin). The results of this analysis were placed into one context with the descriptions of the early medieval Irish lifestyle and nutrition found in historical sources. Furthermore, comparisons were drawn with several Irish and continental European populations from the early medieval to the early modern period which allowed for placing Rathfarnham into a wider temporal and geographical context. These studies have shown that the population from Rathfarnham was an ordinary early medieval Irish population in which males and females were assigned to different physical works like in other early medieval Irish and continental European populations (Fibiger, 2010, 123 and 128 ; Novak et al., 2012, 446 ; Novak, pers. comm.). The diet of the population was a mainly terrestrial one which was typical for the period (Kelly, 2000, 316 and 322 ; Fibiger, 2010, 127 ; Lehane and Delaney, 2010, 46 ; Novak, 2015, 1304). However, different occurrences of the dental pathologies (dental caries, dental calculus and ante-mortem tooth loss) between the sexes probably indicate slight dietary differences between males and females. The females could have consumed more cariogenic food such as carbohydrates than the males whose diet might have had a stronger protein basis, likewise observed in a composite early medieval Irish population (Novak, 2015, 1299). In comparison to populations in continental Europe the Irish sample showed a mostly lower caries but a higher dental calculus frequency. This combination of the two pathologies would, according to Šlaus et al. (2011, 586), usually indicate a protein-rich diet. As a result this could reflect a higher significance of dairy products in the Irish diet when compared to continental Europe. In both, Ireland and continental Europe different frequencies of Schmorl´s nodes in males and females probably indicate a specific allocation of physical labour between the sexes (Šlaus, 2000, 205 ; Fibiger, 2010, 128 ; Novak et al., 2012, 446 ; Novak, pers. comm.). From the analysis of vertebral osteophytosis it could be concluded that this pathology is rather related to biological conditions such as body stature, weight and age but no reliable skeletal indicator of physical workload (Van der Merwe et al., 2006, 462 ; Weiss and Jurmain, 2007, 439). The low occurrence of trauma in the Rathfarnham population probably indicates a relatively peaceful life in which fractures occurred occasionally as a result of accidents and in which trepanation was practiced.

Osteoarchaeology; early medieval; Ireland; Rathfarnham; health

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