City, Town and Village: An Intra and Inter Site Analysis of Long Bone and Rib Fractures at Five Settlements in the Western Roman Empire

Abstract

Fractures indicate how an individual has moved through the world. Yet, how an individual navigates their world is also dependent on variables such as age and gender, and the intersection of such variables. This was never more true than during the Roman period, where how one lived was contingent on a number of variables such as class, gender, and age. The current project analyzed data from 1121 individuals to examine whether one’s age, gender, burial treatment and the confluence of these variables related to one’s fractures. To capture the diversity of the Roman Empire, the project examined three large settlements: Winchester, UK; Lisieux Michelet, France; and Barcelona, Spain, as well as two smaller settlements: Godmanchester, UK; and Vagnari, Italy. Temporally, the settlements span from the 1st-8th c. CE, the height of the Roman Empire to the Merovingian period. The results of the current study found that when variables are treated in isolation, there were distinct gendered lifeways at most settlements, with males having more fractures. When the variables are considered together, fractures reflect more complex dynamics of temporal stress, age, and labour within burial communities at the three larger settlements. When settlements were compared to one another, the absence of differences in fracture prevalence between settlements suggest than rather than simple urban/rural divides, settlements are shaped by their economies and lifeways. Further, odds ratios suggest that fracture risk differed for men and women, young and old. The current study represents the first study to examine multiple large and small settlements outside of Roman Britain, as well as the first to consider fractures in relation to burial treatment. By cross cutting variables, this study expands the current understanding of small, complex communities within cemeteries, and contributes to the discussion on the confluence of identities in the Roman and Merovingian periods.