What this skeleton told us: Evidence
A 2 to 4 year old child with both milk and adult teeth. Thinning of the dental enamel is present on the right upper 1st molar (enamel defects, or hypoplasia) and the left side of the bony roof of the mouth (hard palate) has a small area of bone destruction.
Interpretation of the evidence
Child mortality was likely high in Anglo-Saxon Britain. Had this child survived into adulthood, they would have likely developed the dental problems that so many of the skeletons from the Bowl Hole display. The enamel hypoplasia illustrates that this child had a deficient diet or disease. The hard palate separates the mouth from the nose and sinus cavities. The bone destruction in the centre of the palate could have resulted from a birth defect or from a number of diseases such as infections and tumours, which could have caused or contributed to this child’s death.
Where Wyrtwal-að was found in the graveyard
Wyrtwal-að
Uproots. From wyrt; herb or plant.
