The Poulton Research Project

Earlier this year we received a second request for access to the Poulton skeleton assemblage. The proposal was to support an MSc dissertation on "Nutritional and environmental stress leads to increased disease susceptibility in sub-adults during the medieval period ". This is part of a research project for the Taught Programme in Forensic Anthropology, University of Edinburgh. After carefully reviewing the methods and ethics of the request, the Trustees of the Poulton Project approved the request.

The MSc student, Ms Yana Wilson, BAppSci, recently came to site to carry out the first stage in the work, conducting a thorough examination of a good cross section of the Poulton juveniles. These data will be collated and, in conjunction with historical and archaeological data on the multiple indicators of stress, will be assessed to determine whether health status plays a role in disease development from two distinct medieval populations. Specifically:

To examine the status of health in juveniles during the medieval period.
To determine whether diet and nutrition leads to increased disease sequalae.
To compare and contrast the health status of two distinct medieval populations within the United Kingdom.

The gallery below show the detailed examination and recording of the juveniles skeletons..

^ April 2011: Carefully laying out a juvenile skeleton

^ April 2011: A detailed examination of the bones in progress.