Subadult Growth and Rickets from a Late Roman and Merovingian Period Context in Lisieux, France

Abstract

The transition during the fall of the Roman Empire and eventual rise of Merovingian kingdoms in northern Gaul (modern France) was a period of political upheaval, and social and economic instability. A collection of subadult skeletal remains dating to the late Roman (3rd – 5th c. AD) and Merovingian period (5th – 8th c. AD) in modern day Lisieux, France, permitted an analysis of the effects of these purported stresses on past population health using measures of growth and development. The four aims of this study are to: 1) identify growth delay using measures of growth and development; 2) determine the prevalence of rickets in this sample; 3) determine if growth disruption and frequency of rickets varied between subadults of different ages, time periods, from different burial types, or those associated with and without grave goods; and 4) discuss how the results of this study contribute to an understanding of the interpretation of health at the site, and the social, cultural, and environmental circumstances that impacted health in the past. The remains of 130 subadults from the Michelet necropolis were examined for the presence of rickets as a part of the SSHRC funded project ‘Social-Cultural Determinants of Community Wellbeing in the Western Roman Empire: Analysis and Interpretation of Vitamin D Status.’ A subset of this sample (N=60) was used further to examine disruptions in endochondral growth, appositional growth, cortical thickness, and body mass estimates. Results indicate over half (53%) of the sample exhibited stunting with growth delay beginning around two years of age, highly variable cortical thickness for age, as well as low estimates of body mass for age. Approximately 9% of subadults (N=12/130) analysed exhibited pathological and radiographic features characteristic of rickets. There were no differences between patterns of growth faltering and presence of rickets during the two time periods, between individuals with or without grave goods, or between those in different burial types. The presence of growth faltering and rickets demonstrates that this population experienced nutritional stresses, but that there were no measurable changes in health between the Roman and Merovingian periods.