The working life of Museum of London

Name: Michael Henderson

Job Title: Human Osteologist

Department: Museum of London Archaeology Service

What is Human Osteology?

Osteology is the study of human skeletons. At MoLAS osteologists work with skeletons excavated or recovered from archaeological sites throughout London and further afield. This offers an exiting opportunity to investigate and understand our past through the actual physical remains of those that lived it. The bones may show evidence of disease, infection or injury as well as changes relating to growth and development. This information can contribute to our knowledge of who made up the populations of the past (demography), health and lifestyle and build a picture of how people lived and died.

About me:
I joined the Osteology team at MoLAS in October last year. Before heading to London I studied archaeology at the University of Newcastle and obtained a Masters degree in Human Osteology and Funerary Archaeology from the University of Sheffield. I have also spent time working in a pathology lab for the NHS, working as an archaeological records officer for Leicestershire museums and for the last two years was based at the University of Leicester Archaeology Service analysing skeletons excavated from the 12th to 16th century church of St Peters and the medieval church of St. Michael, Leicester.

I have always had an interested in the past, but became fascinated by the number of things that can be told about your skeleton once you have died.

My role as an Osteologist:
The main aspect of my work involves the analysis and recording of human skeletons that have been recovered from archaeological sites by MoLAS. I begin by identifying the different bones and laying them out in anatomical position, so that I can complete an inventory of what is present. After this I take measurements of certain bones that can be used to calculate stature and size. Using established methods I then make estimates of age at death, sex and examine the bones for signs of disease and injury. The information gathered is inputted into a relational database. This allows it to be linked to all the other data from the site, the finds, the animal bone and the excavation records and enables direct comparison with the thousands of skeletons recorded and curated by the Centre for Human Bioarchaeology at the Museum of London.

The best parts of my job:
The most interesting and fascinating part of my job is the variety and the chance to work with other specialists. I could be working on a Roman assemblage one week and a Victorian cemetery another. Next week I will be meeting up with radiographers from City University, London, to learn about their equipment and how we can work with them to help diagnose pathology present in the bones we find. The study of human remains is a constantly evolving field that involves the disciplines of biology, anatomy, anthropology, archaeology, medicine, forensic science and history to name a few and I enjoy researching different diseases and funerary practices.

As well as some injuries and illnesses that you can only imagine the pain an individual must have endured, some of my most memorable discoveries have been when a coffin plate with a name or age has been found with a skeleton. This provides an opportunity to really bring the past back to life and give a personality back to the skeleton that is often rare in archaeology.

Current work:
We have recently been busy with a range of projects examining the lives of past Londoners. Since starting at MoLAS I have been involved in the analysis of over 700 burials from the Catholic mission of St Mary and St Michael, Lukin Street, East London, who died between 1843 and 1854. These skeletons have shown a wide range of diseases that includes dental disease, tooth notches caused by pipe smoking, infections such as tuberculosis (TB) and syphilis, fractures and even a few people who had undergone autopsies. Around 60% of those buried were children, most of whom died when they were very young: between the ages of one and five years. A large proportion of these infants had pitting of the bones of the skull, bowed and deformed arms and legs with widened and thickened ends and flared rib ends. This indicates that they had suffered from rickets, a metabolic disorder which happens when the body is short of vitamin D. Study of this may help us to better understand the causes of this disease today and promote awareness of its recurrence in the modern world.

Photos: See photos of the MoLAS osteology team on our Flickr pages

Keep posted: to hear more about the lives of past Londoners as told from their very bones.