Publication Date

8-2022

Date of Final Oral Examination (Defense)

5-4-2022

Type of Culminating Activity

Thesis

Degree Title

Master of Arts in Anthropology

Department

Anthropology

Major Advisor

Cheryl Anderson, Ph.D.

Advisor

Kristin Snopkowski, Ph.D.

Advisor

Allison Wolfe, Ph.D.

Abstract

Saint Pancras Burial Ground and its inhumated priests, paupers, aristocrats, and migrants provide a unique perspective into the interactions between sex and inequality in 18th and 19th century industrial London. Frequencies of caries, dental calculus, periodontal disease, linear enamel hypoplasia, periapical lesions, tuberculosis, treponematosis, rickets, and trauma among 224 females from St. Pancras were compared to 27 low-status females from Crossbones Burial Ground and 74 primarily high-status females from Chelsea Old Church Cemetery. Based on the information known about those buried at St. Pancras, it was hypothesized that the frequencies of health indicators in St. Pancras should fall between the high and low status cemeteries.

For this research, Pearson Chi-square was used to test if differences in frequencies were statistically significant. The results show that for St. Pancras the frequencies were significantly lower (p < 0.005) than Crossbones for caries (SP=61%, CB=88%), periodontal disease (SP=42.2%, CB=96%), periapical lesions (SP=8.7%, CB=40%), and trauma (SP=11.6%, CB=37%). Frequencies of dental calculus (SP=81%, CC=95.1%), periodontal disease (SP=42.2%, CC=67.5%), and periapical lesions (SP=8.7%, CC=31.1%) were also significantly lower (p < 0.05) in St. Pancras compared to Chelsea Old Church. However, St. Pancras’s prevalence of LEH (80.8%) was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than Chelsea Old Church (56.1%). Overall, the individuals from St. Pancras had better dental health compared to the other two samples and lower frequencies of trauma compared to Crossbones. This suggests that circumstances, such as migration, may have uniquely affected the lived experiences of women from the St. Pancras sample when compared to other local samples.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.18122/td.1970.boisestate

Included in

Anthropology Commons

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