The life course of Vitamin D: the risk of deficiency in British Archaeological Populations
This research aimed to broaden the existing knowledge of vitamin D deficiency on British archaeological populations. The assessment for rickets and osteomalacia within three populations that span from the 10th to 19th century in England was conducted and the results were integrated with the bio-cultural variables specific to each population. The purpose of this was to identify the influential variables that shaped each population's relationship with deficiency. This study incorporated dental histology with macroscopic analysis and found many individuals who suffered from deficiency in childhood did not evidence macroscopic changes at death and would have been missed without the inclusion of this methodology. The results of this work have expanded the number of archaeological cases of vitamin D deficiency within the population of Raunds Furnells (10th – 12th Centuries), Hereford Cathedral (12th – 16th Centuries) and St Peter’s Wolverhampton (19th Century). The health implications of vitamin D deficiency during these periods have been explored within the context and bio-cultural variables of each population. Statistically significant differences were found between the prevalence of deficiency across time periods, with urbanisation being the biggest bio-cultural variable to change. The identification of in utero vitamin D deficiency that has been passed across the maternal-infant dyad within these past populations is evidence of an adverse foetal environment which was found to significantly increase over time. The incorporation of the bio-cultural and life course models into this work has allowed for the exploration of the non-osseous consequences of vitamin D deficiency that are experienced during life and their integration into these past populations.
Rickets, Osteomalacia, Interglobular dentine, Histology, Bio-cultural, Human osteology, Palaeopathology, Vitamin D deficiency, England, British archaeological populations
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