Abstract

From the twelfth to the sixteenth century, London was one of Europe’s largest urban centers and suffered from frequent cereal shortages that were capable of instigating massive famine-related mortality. To assess biological susceptibility to these crises, this study examines the association between femur length (as a proxy for stature) and interment in famine burials in London during this period using a sample of 858 individuals buried in the St. Mary Spital cemetery (SRP98, c. 1120–1539). SRP98 includes both single and multiple interments, and the dating and demographic profiles of the latter suggest they were used during famines. Hierarchical log-linear analysis reveals a significantly higher proportion of individuals with short femora in putative famine burials compared to contemporaneous attritional burials; this association exists independent of an age or sex effect. These results suggest that people who experienced nutritional deprivations or other deleterious conditions during development severe enough to interfere with growth were more likely to die during conditions of famine than was true under normal conditions of mortality. These results might reflect an exacerbation of underlying vulnerabilities in the face of starvation and attendant infectious diseases during times of medieval famine that elevated the mortality risks of relatively frail individuals even higher than they would have been during non-famine years. Keywords: famine; frailty; stature; St. Mary Spital cemetery Durante los siglos XII a XVI d.C., Londres, Inglaterra fue uno de los centros urbanos mas grandes de Europa, y la ciudad sufrio frecuentemente de una escasez de los cereales, que contribuyo a la gran mortalidad por hambre. Para evaluar la susceptibilidad biologica a estas crisis de hambre, este estudio examina la asociacion entre la longitud del femur (como representacion de estatura) y los entierros de las mujeres que fueron enterradas entre los siglos XII a XVI en Londres. El estudio usa un muestreo de 858 individuos del cementerio St. Mary Spital (SRP98 c. 1120–1539). SRP98 incluye los entierros individuales y multiples. La datacion y los perfiles demograficos de los entierros multiples sugieren que fueron utilizados durante las epocas de hambruna. Los analisis jerarquicos del modelo log-linear revelan que hay mas individuos con femures cortos en los entierros asociados con el hambre, comparado con los entierros mas contemporaneos; esta asociacion existe independiente del efecto de la edad o el sexo. Los resultados sugieren que las personas que sufrian de una falta de nutricion o cualquier otro detrimento de salud que ocurrio durante del desarrollo natural humano estaban en mas riesgo de la muerte durante los periodos de hambre que durante las condiciones normales. Los resultados podrian reflejar una exacerbacion de las vulnerabilidades a la hambruna y otras enfermedades infecciosas durante los tiempos de hambruna, que contribuyo a un riesgo de muerte en los individuos debiles que era mas alto que en los tiempos sin la hambruna.

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