TY - JOUR
T1 - Skeletal manifestations of infantile scurvy
AU - Brickley, Megan
AU - Ives, RA
PY - 2006/2/1
Y1 - 2006/2/1
N2 - Recent investigations of human skeletal material from the historic St. Martin's cemetery, England, found a range of abnormal lesions in six infants that are almost certainly related to scurvy. Porous and proliferative bone lesions affecting the cranial bones and scapulae were found, and this paper presents images obtained using both macroscopic and scanning electron microscope examination of the lesions. Previous work on infantile scurvy (Ortner et al., 1997-2001) relied heavily on changes at the sphenoid, which is often missing in archaeological bone, so the identification of changes attributable to scurvy on other cranial bones and the scapulae is encouraging. The ability to recognize changes related to scurvy on a range of bones will ensure an enhanced potential for recognition of this disease in future research involving archaeological bone. Research on historical documents from Birmingham dating to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, combined with the probable cases of scurvy identified, supports the view that the paucity of cases of infantile scurvy from the archaeological record reflects a lack of understanding and recognition of bone manifestations, rather than a lack of occurrence in this period. Changes linked to scurvy were only found in infants from the poorer sections of the community from St. Martin's, and this is almost certainly linked to patterns of food consumption and may be related to shortages of potatoes, due to blight, experienced during this period. (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
AB - Recent investigations of human skeletal material from the historic St. Martin's cemetery, England, found a range of abnormal lesions in six infants that are almost certainly related to scurvy. Porous and proliferative bone lesions affecting the cranial bones and scapulae were found, and this paper presents images obtained using both macroscopic and scanning electron microscope examination of the lesions. Previous work on infantile scurvy (Ortner et al., 1997-2001) relied heavily on changes at the sphenoid, which is often missing in archaeological bone, so the identification of changes attributable to scurvy on other cranial bones and the scapulae is encouraging. The ability to recognize changes related to scurvy on a range of bones will ensure an enhanced potential for recognition of this disease in future research involving archaeological bone. Research on historical documents from Birmingham dating to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, combined with the probable cases of scurvy identified, supports the view that the paucity of cases of infantile scurvy from the archaeological record reflects a lack of understanding and recognition of bone manifestations, rather than a lack of occurrence in this period. Changes linked to scurvy were only found in infants from the poorer sections of the community from St. Martin's, and this is almost certainly linked to patterns of food consumption and may be related to shortages of potatoes, due to blight, experienced during this period. (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=31344464649&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/ajpa.20265
DO - 10.1002/ajpa.20265
M3 - Article
C2 - 16323179
SN - 1096-8644
SN - 1096-8644
SN - 1096-8644
SN - 1096-8644
SN - 1096-8644
SN - 1096-8644
SN - 1096-8644
SN - 1096-8644
VL - 129
SP - 163
EP - 172
JO - American Journal of Physical Anthropology
JF - American Journal of Physical Anthropology
ER -