ādrinċeð

What this skeleton told us: Evidence

A 9 to 10 year old child with some dental disease affecting both their adult and milk teeth. The skeleton is somewhat poorly preserved but 70% complete. Isotope data indicates an individual whose adult and milk teeth show origins outside Britain (oxygen), perhaps from the Mediterranean area. The milk teeth suggest the mother of this child lived in a slightly warmer place during pregnancy than the child did in its youth.

Interpretation of the evidence

Child mortality was likely high in Anglo-Saxon Britain. This child probably died from a communicable disease (infection) but, had they survived into adulthood, would have likely developed the dental problems that so many of the skeletons from the Bowl Hole display. Due to their age at the time of death, the person had both their milk teeth (which form in utero) and erupting adult teeth (the adult teeth form in early childhood). The two sets of teeth provide two isotope readings. In this instance, the adult teeth indicate that, prior to arriving in Bamburgh, this child spent his/her early childhood in a warm Mediterranean climate such as Southern France. The milk teeth indicate that this child’s mother was from further South in an even warmer environment, such as Southern Spain or possibly even North Africa.