Award Date

8-1-2018

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Anthropology

First Committee Member

Debra Martin

Second Committee Member

Barbara Roth

Third Committee Member

Jiemin Bao

Fourth Committee Member

John Curry

Number of Pages

84

Abstract

During its incorporation into the Roman Empire, Britain’s physical and social landscape was transformed, but through highly complex and multi-dimensional processes of cultural change. Previous bioarchaeological research has revealed Roman conquest resulted in health impacts in Romano-British communities that were conditioned by various factors such as region and settlement type, prompting the need for more integrated studies of human skeletal remains to help understand the biocultural influences shaping health, demography and cultural change in the Roman world. The purpose of this research was to investigate the health status of individuals interred at a Late Roman cemetery site in Canterbury, England. The data used in this research was collected from human skeletal remains at the site of Hallet’s Garage (N=82), excavated and curated by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust, and represents the first study of its kind to be conducted on Roman Canterbury skeletal finds. As one of the first regions to encounter Roman conquest and thrive as a commercial hub and center of administrative power, Canterbury’s rich archaeological material remains an important piece of the picture in Roman Britain. The results from this study suggest some health disparities among males and females potentially related to divisions in activity, but that overall at least a portion of the population in Canterbury experienced little health stress as a result of inequality or violence. Some interesting individual health profiles highlight varied experiences that punctuate population level trends. Comparative analyses with other Romano-British sites also reveal some interesting health patterns that have implications for how Canterbury is interpreted as an urbanized settlement. This study contributes to understanding of health and regionalized responses to conquest in Roman Britain and provide opportunities for future research with Canterbury’s growing archive of Roman material.

Keywords

Bioarchaeology; Biological Anthropology; Canterbury; Health; Roman Britain

Disciplines

Archaeological Anthropology | Biological and Physical Anthropology | Classics

File Format

pdf

File Size

2700 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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