The 18th and 19th centuries in England were characterised by a period of increasing industrialisation of its urban centres. It was also one of widening social and health inequalities between the rich and the poor. Childhood is well-documented as being a stage in the life course during which the body is particularly sensitive to adverse socio-economic environments. This study therefore aims to examine the relationship between health and wealth through a comprehensive skeletal analysis of a sample of 403 children (0-17 years), of varying socio-economic status, from four cemetery sites in London (c.1712-1854). Measurements of long bone diaphyseal length, cortical thickness, vertebral neural canal size, and the prevalence of a range of pathological indicators of health stress were recorded from the Chelsea Old Church (high status), St Benet Sherehog (middle status), Bow Baptist (middle status), and Cross Bones (low status) skeletal collections. Children from the low status Cross Bones site demonstrated deficient growth values, as expected. However, those from the high status site of Chelsea Old Church also demonstrated poor growth values during infancy. Fashionable child-care practices (e.g. the use of artificial infant feeds and keeping children indoors) may have contributed to poor infant health amongst high status groups. However, differing health risks in the lower status group revealed the existence of substantial health inequality in London at this time.

Occupants of coastal and island eastern Africa-now known as the 'Swahili coast'-were involved in long-distance trade with the Indian Ocean world during the later first millennium CE. Such exchanges may be traced via the appearance of non-native animals in the archaeofaunal record; additionally, this record reveals daily culinary practises of the members of trading communities and can thus shed light on subsistence technologies and social organisation. Yet despite the potential contributions of faunal data to Swahili coast archaeology, few detailed zooarchaeological studies have been conducted. Here, we present an analysis of faunal remains from new excavations at two coastal Zanzibar trading locales: the small settlement of Fukuchani in the north-west and the larger town of Unguja Ukuu in the south-west. The occurrences of non-native fauna at these sites-Asian black rat (Rattus rattus) and domestic chicken (Gallus gallus), as well as domestic cat (Felis catus)-are among the earliest in eastern Africa. The sites contrast with one another in their emphases on wild and domestic fauna: Fukuchani's inhabitants were economically and socially engaged with the wild terrestrial realm, evidenced not only through diet but also through the burial of a cache of wild bovid metatarsals. In contrast, the town of Unguja Ukuu had a domestic economy reliant on caprine herding, alongside more limited chicken keeping, although hunting or trapping of wild fauna also played an important role. Occupants of both sites were focused on a diversity of near-shore marine resources, with little or no evidence for the kind of venturing into deeper waters that would have required investment in new technologies. Comparisons with contemporaneous sites suggest that some of the patterns at Fukuchani and Unguja Ukuu are not replicated elsewhere. This diversity in early Swahili coast foodways is essential to discussions of the agents engaged in long-distance maritime trade.

Lead (Pb) has been known to be a cause of human poisoning since ancient times, but despite this, it was a widely used metal in the European colonial period. In this study, the relationship between Pb exposure and the demographic variables ancestry and age was explored by comparing the bone Pb levels of individuals that were of either African or European ancestry, excavated from a British Royal Navy hospital cemetery (1793-1822 CE) at English Harbour in Antigua, West Indies. More direct comparisons of Pb levels between the two ancestral groups were possible in this study because of the unsegregated nature of this cemetery. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was used to determine bulk Pb levels in cortical bone samples from the fibular diaphyses of 23 male individuals. No significant difference was found between the distributions of the Pb levels of the ancestral groups ( = 0.94). Further, no positive correlations or significant differences were found in relation to the individuals' ages and their Pb levels ( = 0.24). Levels of Ba, Ca and rare earth elements support a largely biogenic origin of lead. This is bolstered by Pb deposition patterns, generated by synchrotron X-ray fluorescence imaging for another study. The data suggest that naval personnel, regardless of ancestry at English Harbour, had very similar experiences with regard to Pb exposure. Their exposure to the toxic metal was likely not consistent over time as steady exposure would have resulted in accumulation of Pb with age. This study contributes to addressing historical questions regarding the prevalence of Pb poisoning within the British Royal Navy during the colonial period.

To date, osteometric data for Swiss Bronze Age cattle, particularly from Alpine sites, are scarce. In the present study, using a large dataset generated by combining preexisting data with recent data obtained from a large Alpine site, cattle size from the Late Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age (LBA) in populations from different sites and regions was evaluated using the logarithmic size index and other statistical analysis. Additionally, the finite mixture model and a meta-analytic technique were used to observe possible effects of sex ratios on cattle size. Results indicated that sex ratios did not affect size distribution. Cattle populations did not differ over time, but the Alpine cattle were smaller than the Central Plateau cattle. There were two distinct sizes in the Alpine cattle populations. It is suggested that the different economic interrelationships between Alpine and other geographically related communities might have led to the emergence of size diversity in Swiss Bronze Age cattle. Further interdisciplinary studies with larger sample sizes are required to confirm these possibilities.

The term avian osteopetrosis is used to describe alterations to the skeletal elements of several species of domestic bird, most typically the chicken, Gallus gallus (L. 1758). Such lesions are routinely identified in animal bones from archaeological sites due to their distinctive appearance, which is characterised by proliferative diaphyseal thickening. These lesions are relatively uncomplicated for specialists to differentially diagnose and are caused by a range of avian leucosis viruses in a series of subgroups. Only some avian leucosis viruses cause the development of such characteristic lesions in osteological tissue. Viraemia is necessary for the formation of skeletal pathology, and avian osteopetrosis lesions affect skeletal elements at different rates. Lesion expression differs by the age and sex of the infected individual, and environmental conditions have an impact on the prevalence of avian leucosis viruses in poultry flocks. These factors have implications for the ways in which diagnosed instances of avian osteopetrosis in archaeological assemblages are interpreted. By integrating veterinary research with archaeological evidence for the presence of avian leucosis viruses across Western Europe, this paper discusses the nature of these pathogens, outlines criteria for differential diagnosis, and offers a fresh perspective on the human-aided movement of animal disease in the past through investigation of the incidence and geographic distribution of avian osteopetrosis lesions from the first century BC to the post-medieval period.

Reindeer () have shaped the cultures and provided livelihood to peoples of the Northern Hemisphere for thousands of years. They are still the socio-economic cornerstone of many northern cultures. Insight into reindeer mortality patterns is important for understanding past human-reindeer interactions and reindeer population fluctuations in relation to climatic and environmental change. Beyond archaeology, assessing the age structures of modern reindeer populations is important for developing wildlife management strategies. This paper presents a quick, non-destructive and cheap method to estimate age in reindeer in both modern and ancient populations based on tooth wear and eruption patterns of mandibular teeth. We devised the method using a large sample of Svalbard reindeer () of known age. We blind-tested the method and tested its applicability on another known-age Svalbard reindeer mandible assemblage. The tests demonstrate our methods' user-friendliness and reliability to generate reproducible, reusable datasets and accuracy in estimating reindeer age-at-death.

Zoonotic diseases-human diseases of animal origin-represent one of the world's greatest health challenges, both today and in the past. Since the Neolithic, zoonotic diseases have been one of the major factors shaping and influencing human adaptation. Archaeology is ideally situated to provide the long view on human-animal-pathogen relationships through combining cultural, environmental and biological datasets, yet long-term studies of linked human and animal records have often been overlooked and undertheorized. The seven papers in this special issue "Zoonotic diseases: New directions in human-animal pathology" cover a range of diseases caused by bacterial, viral, and parasitic pathogens, from case studies drawn from across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. They speak to the diversity of human-animal-environment interactions that shaped disease emergence and transmission. They also review methodological advancements relating to disease identification and interpretation and discuss interdisciplinary approaches to effectively investigate these complex processes in the past. This introduction highlights their key themes and outcomes and identifies research priorities moving forward.

During the analysis of a skeletal assemblage from a medieval cemetery in Nubia (c. AD 500-1550), a young adult female with abnormally developed maxillary incisors was discovered. The possible causes of the two dental anomalies found in this individual and their archaeological context are discussed. The remains are from a medieval assemblage from the Fourth Cataract region of Nubia, which forms part of the Nubian collection curated at the British Museum. The left central incisor has a twinned crown with two root canals, and a supernumerary tooth is present on the right side between the central incisor and lateral incisors. Although two different dental anomalies are present, the bilateral expression suggests that the same biological mechanism could be responsible.

The sacral preauricular extension (SPE) and sacral preauricular notch (SPN) are morphological changes at the ventral apex of the sacrum. We recently specified their shapes and appearances and suggested a scoring system based on prehistoric Austrian skeletal assemblages. We hypothesized that these specific pelvic changes relate to past pregnancies and parturitions, a hypothesis that we now tested on a subsample of individuals from the Simon Identified Skeletal collection in Geneva ( = 62) and the Christ Church, Spitalfields collection in London ( = 27) linked to historical information on deliveries. We found SPE and SPN in low frequencies and only in female individuals with at least two children in both collections, and a significant association between the emergence of SPE and first births by 25 years. SPN was found only in two females in the Simon collection, but both with a very high number of recorded parturitions including twin births. Based on these results, we are confident in our assumption that at least SPE, and possibly also SPN, result from increased compression forces at the sacroiliac joint, and especially at the ventrosuperior margin, in recurring (complicated) birth events, the interaction of enhanced pelvic joint mobility that is highest up to age 25, and postural changes related to weight gain during pregnancy. Pelvic shape, dimensions, body proportions, biomechanical issues and hormonal levels may also play a role in their emergence.

Clinical research into biomolecules from infectious diseases and cancers has advanced rapidly in recent years, with two key areas being DNA analysis and proteomics. If we wish to understand important diseases and their associated biomolecules in past populations, techniques are required that will allow accurate biopsy of lesions in excavated human skeletal remains. While locating lesions visible on the surface of a bone is simple, many lesions such as cancer metastases are located in the medulla of bones, unseen on visual inspection. Here, we use two novel image guided techniques to investigate how plain radiographs may improve accuracy in the localization of lesions within bones from medieval individuals. While both techniques were effective, we found the grid technique required fewer radiographs than the pointer technique to employ and so was responsible for a lower overall radiation dose. We then discuss methods available for biopsy in archeological bone and how the optimal location for the biopsy of malignant lesions will vary depending upon whether the tumor is blastic or lytic in nature. Limitations of this X-ray guided approach include that not all cancer metastases are visible on plain radiographs, as erosion of cortical bone is frequently required for visualization of lytic metastases using this imaging modality.

In the Greater Antilles, certain animal taxa that have long been theorized to have been managed by indigenous peoples prior to AD1492, the main candidates being a group of endemic caviomorph rodents known as hutias (Capromyinae). This isotopic study investigates the paleodiets of several species of endemic rodents from three late precolonial sites in the northern Dominican Republic: El Flaco (cal. ad 990-1452), El Carril (cal. ad 1030-1262), and La Entrada (cal. ad 840-900) to assess whether human influence over animal diets can be determined. We examined bone collagen carbon (δC) and nitrogen (δN) and tooth enamel carbon (δC) isotope values of three species of hutias, , , and , alongside edible rat ( sp.), and domestic guinea pig (). To estimate dietary source contributions, we employed a Bayesian dietary mixing model (FRUITS v.3.0) and ran three different permutations to assess the relative contributions of C or C/CAM plants. The addition of an extra 79 wild C and 40 wild C/CAM plant species' isotope values from published sources to an established isotopic foodweb for the Caribbean region enabled us to discriminate between wild and domestic C and C/CAM plant food sources in two of these models. Our results provide evidence of the significant consumption of domestic C/CAM plants by some animals. This likely represents maize () consumption, which is known to have been ubiquitously cultivated by indigenous peoples in the region. This is particularly the case for , as FRUITS modeling suggests that a few individuals consumed C/CAM plants well beyond their expected natural diets as determined from feeding studies of extant hutia species. This may indicate human influence over endemic rodent diets due to niche construction activities such as horticultural practices and may reflect either opportunistic feeding on human produce or the purposeful supplementation of hutia diets by humans.

This paper presents the first evidence of extra-masticatory dental wear from Neolithic Bestansur, Iraqi Kurdistan (7700-7200 BC). Bestansur is a rare, recently excavated burial site of this period in the Zagros region, of Iraqi Kurdistan. A total of 585 teeth from 38 individuals were analyzed for features indicative of activities including oblique wear planes, notches, grooves, and chipping. Indications of extra-masticatory wear were found in 27 of 38 individuals, and 277 of 585 teeth (47%) available for study. The most frequent features were chipping and notches suggesting activities such as processing fibers by using the teeth as a "third hand." Evidence for these wear features was present in both males, females, and in children aged five and older. These aspects of childhood life-course and dentition are rarely investigated. The presence of dental wear features in the deciduous dentition can indicate an age range at which activities began in different groups and highlights the importance of including juvenile remains in such studies. The variety of forms of dental wear may relate to the mixed diet and activities of these people. This study adds to our understanding of human behaviors and socio-cultural aspects of life during this transitional period.