The working life of Museum of London

  Bone changes caused by infection and bacteria, as well as the broken bones and fractures resulting from injury are often seen in skeletal analysis of past populations. Another type of disease observed are those that reflect the diet an individual had during their life. Poor diets can lead to many health problems and illnesses, and the types of food eaten may also cause changes in the bones. A lack of nutrients such as vitamin C and D in the diet may lead to metabolic disorders, such as scurvy and rickets. These can affect growth and prevent the development of strong and healthy bones. Diets too rich in certain foods may also lead to illness.

   One such diseases is gout, this results from a build up of uric acid in the body and may be associated with a high alcohol intake and diet rich in protein and fatty foods (Roberts and Manchester 2005). Crystals of uric acid may form in the joints and lead to inflammation. This can affect the joints of most limbs but is most commonly observed in the first metatarsophalangeal joint (big toe), causing joint pain and stiffness. Over a period of time this swelling may lead to erosion of the bone at the joint. This can be seen in skeletal remains as punched out lesions with overhanging edges (Rogers and Waldron 1995).  Six adult individuals (6/268: 2.2%) from the Catholic mission of Saints Mary and Michael, Whitechapel, London, displayed evidence of gout. All had erosive lesions of the big toe.

 Another disease that may be related to a rich diet and obesity is Diffuse idiopathic hyperostosis or DISH. This is caused by the ossification (turning to bone) of ligaments in the spine and other sites of the body such as areas of tendon and muscle attachments. This can result in individual vertebrae of the spine becoming fused together, with the new bone having the appearence of dripping candle wax (Rogers and Waldron 1995). Two males, both aged over 46 years at death were diagnosed with DISH in the Saints Mary and Michael cemetery population. Both showed the typical fusion of over four continuous vertebrae.

The occurrence of these diseases, when compared to an entire cemetery population, can help us to learn about and understand the health and lifestyle of people in the past. They may help reveal the types of diets eaten,  the foods available, and make inferences about a populations background and status. 

The past month I have been able to attend two conferences related to the study of human remains and archaeology. Conferences are a great opportunity to see what other people who work in this area have been up to. Academics, students and archaeologists discuss their current research projects, interests and new and exiting developments in the field. These also provide a chance for us to inform others about the recent work MoLAS has been involved in, and create links with people to work with in the future.

The first conference was organised by the Wellcome Trust. This has a well established interest in Bioarchaeology, the use of scientific methods in archaeology. The Wellcome Trust has provided a valuable source for funding research projects in the past, including the Wellcome Osteological Research Database (WORD) used by the Museum of London to record Skeletons. The Wellcome Collection is also the home to the current ‘Skeletons, Londons buried bones exhibition’.

The meeting was designed to bring the fields of archaeology, biology and medicine together and provide a forum for archaeologists and scientists to meet and develop new ideas. There was a range of fascinating talks about the latest advances in ancient DNA and other molecules obtained from archaeological remains. These can be used to answer questions and tell stories about human origins, development and movements in the past. They have also been used to show what people ate, how healthy they were and even what colour hair they may have had. Biomolecules extracted from human bone can also be used to determine how diseases and illnesses such as TB may have affected people in the past. This information can be used to help understand how these pathogens spread and aid our knowledge of disease in the modern world. 

Next I headed to Oxford for the 10th annual conference of the British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology. Again, this was a great chance to meet and talk to prominent people, colleagues and those interested in the field of human osteology. There were interesting talks about the use of biomolecules in archaeology and also new research into changes to the body before and after death. This included how human remains can tell us about an individuals lifestyle, work and health. Skeletal remains may also show how someone adapted to different environments and activities and also the treatment of a body after death. My colleague Natasha Powers discussed the recent findings of a MoLAS excavation at the grounds of the Royal London Hospital that uncovered coffins containing dissected body portions and evidence of scalpel cuts, sawing and preparation of specimens.

Another part of conferences are the poster displays. These are gallery-like areas where people present current topics, work and research interests, in a poster format for people to view and ask questions. This year myself and colleague Don Walker presented posters about our recent work using computed radiography and also the evidence we have found for pipe smoking.

  Smoking was introduced to Britain in the 16th century, and pipe and cigar smoking had become popular by the 19th century. Tabacco use continued to rise and the first mass produced cigarettes were introduced in the 1880s. Evidence of smoking is often demonstrated on archaeological sites in the form of clay pipes. These disposable items were easy to make and the different types and manufactures markings can provide valuable dating information.

Recent analysis of over 700 skeletons from the Catholic Mission of Saints Mary and Michael, Whitechapel, London, who died between 1843 and 1854, has demonstrated how evidence of smoking can also be observed in the bones of past populations.

 Fifty eight adult skeletons (58/268: 21.6%) displayed wear patterns to the surfaces of the teeth. These were often smooth, rounded grooves resulting from long term pipe smoking. In many cases a circular hole or ‘pipe notch’ was clearly visable when the upper and lower jaws were closed. Thirty two of the individuals with pipe notches also showed a brown coloured staining to the inside of the teeth. Pipe notches were found on a number of young adults. These may have developed over several years suggesting that smoking could have been taken up at a younger age. Adult smokers were also found to be more likely associated with lesions to the inside surfaces of the ribs, possibly the result of lung disease resulting from smoking.

This evidence may help provide information about how smoking affected the health of an individual and if it made more susceptible to other diseases and the infections compared to non smokers. If smoking was more commonplace amongst the Victorian working class, this may be used as an indicator of status and possibly gender. This may also help better our understanding and awareness of smoking in the modern world that is reported to kill 5.4 million people each year (World Health Organisation 2008).

A year on from the smoking ban, the museum of London looks into the history of smoking in London and life in the captial since the ban with a new exhibition ‘ The Big Smoke’. More information can be found at the following link…

http://www.molg.org.uk/English/NewsRoom/Current/The+Big+Smoke.htm

Natasha Powers (Head of Osteology) writes:

At MoLAS much of our commercial work involves studying the remains of people who died in the early 19th century. We have the unique opportunity to compare archaeological findings with the historical record. Over the next few weeks I’m going to talk a little about some of the discoveries made and the questions raised.

The team have recently completed analysis of nearly 750 individuals from the Catholic Mission of Saints Mary and Michael, Whitechapel. These people died and were buried between 1843 and 1854.

A number of women appeared to have unusually shaped ribs. By laying out the ribs in sequence it was possible to see a consistent pattern. The ribs were flattened from the side so that they pointed forwards and down, forming a somewhat triangular shape to the ribcage instead of a gentle curve. These deformities are caused by wearing corsets or stays.

We visited the Department of Fashion and Decorative Arts at the Museum to find out what type of underwear could have caused this. It turned out that the damaging effect of corsetry on the Victorian body is a ‘hot topic’ amongst costume historians. Writers in the 19th century campaigned against the wearing of tightly laced corsets and medical papers were published showing the effect on the internal organs.

You can see an illustration of ‘deformities to the ribs as a result of wearing a corset‘ at Project Gutenberg.

Understandably, our colleagues were largely unaware of the potential of the human remains to help answer this question. We are now looking forwards to working with the Curators to investigate this fascinating aspect of Victorian health further.

Jelena Bekvalac, Research Osteologist at the Museum of London, writes:

“The forthcoming Skeletons exhibition to be held at Wellcome from July to September will be the culmination of many months of planning and collaboration between the Centre for Human Bioarchaeology at the Museum of London and the Wellcome Collection. The premise of the exhibition is to give an insight as to what is buried beneath the streets of London and what valuable information can be learnt from analysing the skeletal remains of past inhabitants of London.

London has throughout its long history been developed and rebuilt causing destruction and disturbance of its material history. In the last thirty years or so, such building developments have precipitated archaeological investigations. During these excavations in many instances skeletal human remains are revealed, some of which have been retained for their scientific research value.

The skeletons in the exhibition are all from such developments that have taken place and have been retained as part of the research collection that is curated and archived at the museum. They cannot be returned to their original cemeteries for reburial, as those sites have been built upon. With a very few exceptions the remains are anonymous. Where we do know the names of a few of them who died in the 18th and 19th centuries it has proved impossible to trace any living descendants. The skeletal remains are treated with great respect and the idea of the exhibition is not that it is to see the skeletons of these people as curiosities but as significant repositories of information that can assist many fields of research including that of modern day medics and clinicians.”

Infectious disease can transmitted by by a range of routes such as viruses, bacteria and injury to the body. Before the discovery of antibiotics, such infections would have been a major cause of death amongst populations. Many of these diseases affect the soft tissues and organs of the body and may lead to the death of an individual before leaving any trace on the skeleton. Some infections, however, do reach the bone itself and may indicate a more longstanding illness or individuals with a strong immune system.

 When infectious disease does reach the skeleton it is shown as inflammation of the bone. This can occur in different ways and at any of the surfaces of the bone. Periostitis is where the outer layer of tissue that covers the cortical bone surface becomes infected and a new layer of bone is formed called woven bone. As this new bone heals it becomes smooth and compacted lamellar bone through remodelling and begins to resemble the original surface. Osteitis is inflammation to the outer cortical bone and osteomyelitis is infection of the inner surface and medullary or middle cavity of the bone. This can lead to destruction of the surrounding bone and a swollen, enlarged appearance as new bone is formed and remodelled changing the original shape. Infection in the middle cavity may be released through the formation of a small hole (sinus) that connects the interior to the exterior surface.

Many of the skeletons analysed at MoLAS show evidence of infection.  Diseases can often affect the bone in similar ways and it is not always possible to diagnose a particular type of illness. These infections are called non-specific and may have a variety of causes. Some infections however, display a certain distribution and type of lesion throughout the skeleton and from this it is possible to determine what disease was present. These are known as specific infections.

 One specific infection found in archaeological remains is tuberculosis. This can be transmitted to humans from cattle through infected milk or more commonly through human to human contact through the respiratory system and affecting the lungs. This can spread to other parts of the body including the skeleton where it mainly affects the spine and the joints of the hip and knee. Osteomyeltis may lead to destructive lesions and septic arthritis at the joints and can result in erosion and fusion of the joint surfaces. In the spine, destructive lesions may lead to collapse of the vertebral bodies causing curvature called a kyphosis.

 Another specific infection that can be seen in the skeleton is treponemal disease that includes syphilis. This may result in inflammation to the skull and face which can become pitted and crater like (caries sicca). In the long bones, infection may cause the bones to become expanded and distorted due to osteomyleitis.  The tibia may become bow shaped (sabre shin) due to remodelling through new bone growth.

Infectious disease affects many people in the world today and continues to be a major casue of death. Study of infection in archaeological skeletons may help us to understand how disease evolves and spreads through modern populations.

Many of the skeletons excavated at archaeological sites include the bones of those aged less than eighteen years of age at death. The buried population of the Catholic mission of St Mary and St Michael, Lukin Street, East London included over 400 child skeletons.  The majority of these children were aged between one and five years when they died suggesting a low chance of survival into adulthood for those inflicted by disease. 

This cemetery revealed individuals buried in wooden coffins, placed into deep graves with many stacked on top of each other.  The recovered skeletons were found to be very well preserved.  The good condition of these burials enabled bone changes to be seen that are often lost through erosion or damage over time when buried in the ground. This provided an important opportunity to see what life was like for children growing up in the Victorian era, the hardships they faced and illnesses suffered.

 A large proportion of the children recorded displayed signs of metabolic disorders. These can be caused by malnutrition and deficiencies in diet that can affect growth and prevent the development of strong and healthy bones.

 Seventy eight (11:1%) of the child skeletons showed signs of active rickets caused by a lack of vitamin D within the body that is normally obtained through exposure to sunlight and a healthy diet. Deficiency of vitamin D can result in weakened bones that become bowed as they are unable to support the bodies weight. The bone changes observed included areas of pitting to the surfaces of the skull, bent and deformed arms and legs with thick, widened ends and ribs that flared out towards the ends. 

Another disease observed in the child population was scurvy, caused by a lack of vitamin C in the diet. Once the scourge of sailors on long sea voyages, a poor diet lacking in fresh fruit and vegetables can lead to vitamin C deficiency. This can result in bleeding into the skin and tissues surrounding the bones and tooth sockets and lead to impaired bone growth. Bone changes for this condition were recorded in forty two (6%) of children, these included porosity and pitting to regions of the skull and roof of the eye sockets and new bone formation to the surfaces of the long bones.

Diseases such as these would have thrived in the smog filled air, poorly sanitised and over crowded living conditions of 19th century London. The fast growing population living in poor conditions often with limited access to water, fresh food or waste disposal created an environment where infectious disease was common and many sick children may have been kept indoors away from the important sunlight. Swaddling, the practice of wrapping infants in tightly fitting blankets in order to restrict movement and malnourished mothers feeding their children with deficient milk may have also played a role.

Recently, a resurgence of these diseases amongst children has been reported. The knowledge gained from the bones of those afflicted in the past can help us to better understand the causes of such conditions and promote awareness of the recurrence in the modern world.

Over the past month the osteology team has completed the analysis of over 700 skeletons from the Catholic mission of St Mary and St Michael, Lukin Street, East London, who died between 1843 and 1854. This has involved collecting vast amounts of data from each skeleton including bone measurements, age and sex estimates, the presence and absence of certain traits and anomalies and descriptions of pathologies. All of this information was entered onto a relational database.

The next stage of the project is to extract this information in order to examine the results obtained and begin to build a profile of what the cemetery population was made up of. Some of this information can be used to tell us the overall age ranges of people, how many suffered from a particular illness or disease, the average height of the population and if there is anything to suggest certain individuals may have been related.

A large proportion of the skeletons recorded displayed evidence of broken bones including over 70 individuals with healed fractures. Other signs of trauma included healed injuries to the bones of the skull, dislocations of joints and indications that some had undergone surgery or autopsy. To help us better understand these fractures and try to tell if they were the result of an accident or possibly violence it is often helpful to have the bones X-rayed. This allows us to look inside the bones and see how well a fracture may have healed and estimate how long ago in a persons life the break occurred. Previously X-rays were taken and developed using a similar method to film photography. After being exposed onto special X-Ray film, the images were developed using a series of chemicals. This could be a time consuming method that meant large samples of bone could not be X-rayed.

Last week I took a collection of the fractured bones to the Department of Radiography at City University, London. The radiographers there have kindly allowed us to use their state of the art digital radiography machines. This equipment uses special X-Ray plates that can be immediately downloaded onto a computer. These digital images can then be manipulated, moved around, lightened or darkened and measures of bone length and fracture angles directly taken. This allows for a greater number of images to be taken and in much less time.

The results clearly show a variety of fractures, many of which were well healed and would have occured much earlier on in a persons life. These images, along with the bones themselves will add to our understanding of what life was like for the people buried in the Lukin street cemetery and give some indication of the hardships and dangers they may have faced during their everyday lives in the Victorian period.

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

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.

This week, Tania Kausmally, a research osteologist, describes the work that she and her colleagues do. Beware, there are lots of bones involved: forewarned is fore-armed.

Sorry, that was meant to be humerus.

OK, over to Tania

The database provides very detailed information about each skeleton including age, gender, measurements, dentition, & diseases and researchers can download this information from our website. Researchers may choose solely to use this on-line data or expand their research and visit the Centre. Database information and any other research on the archive are regularly updated. Just this year we have had 35 researchers visiting the Centre and as curators it is our job to assist researchers, ensure that the skeletal remains are treated ethically and make certain they handle them correctly, thereby limiting the damage on this unique archive.

Public and educational programmes run throughout the year and these are always very popular and not surprisingly the public are intrigued and mostly delighted to come “face to face” with their ancestors. They are genuinely surprised at how much can be learnt from the skeletons and the information they reveal about how they lived. Most intriguing is “that’s what we look like inside”! Many of the diseases we see in the skeletons are recognised by visitors who are fascinated to learn what these actually look like, such as the very visible bone changes in osteoarthritis and what may happen to the skeleton if we become too fat. Children’s days have also proved a great success such as “Murder in the Archive” a challenging forensic exercise prompting questions such as “how do you get the skeleton out of the body?”…. perhaps not such a trivial question after all ….. And if a tooth dissolves in coca cola how long would a skeleton take to dissolve?!

In July 2008 the Wellcome Trust in collaboration with the CHB will have an exhibition featuring 25 skeletons excavated from London, all archived here at the Museum of London and each telling a story from the past. Literally from the skeletons the people of London past will reveal the vibrant history of London.

When not mixing with the 17000 Romans, monks, Georgians & Victorians in the archive, or assisting researchers; taking part in public open days; writing papers; repatriation programmes; proposing exhibitions; being interviewed for the television; or venturing off site to an excavation we actively work on raising funds to sustain the Centre for the future. The Centre is still growing and we are trying to build a solid foundation for research and education involving human skeletal remains. No two days are ever the same and as more people know about the potential of the archive and Centre’s facilities the busier we will become. We will certainly continue to promote our work through conferences and published papers and continue to engage people in the rich and exciting information that can be yielded from the bare bones…

See photos from the CHB on our Flickr pages: http://www.flickr.com/photos/museumoflondonhumanbioarchaeology/