Skeletons of 'ordinary folk' in Cambridge help researchers paint picture of city's past

Archaeologists at Cambridge University have studied more than 500 skeletons from the 14th and 15th centuries to see how 'ordinary folk' lived in the city in medieval times.
One of the skeletons that researchers have studied to try and discover more about ordinary people who lived in the city in the 14th and 15th century. Credit: Nick Saffell/University of Cambridge /PA Wire

Archaeologists are studying medieval skeletons to try and better understand how ordinary people lived hundreds of years ago.

Research teams from Cambridge University have found that the prestigious university city was once a sea of need, with poverty and disease taking their toll.

They analysed almost 500 skeletal remains which had been excavated from burial grounds across the city, dating between the 11th and 15th centuries.

Samples came from a range of digs dating back to the 1970s.

Modern research techniques meant that they were able to investigate the diets, DNA, activities, and bodily traumas of townsfolk, scholars, friars and merchants from their bones.

Researchers have been studying hundreds of skeletons to see how 'ordinary folk' in medieval Cambridge lived Credit: Cambridge Archaeological Unit/St John's College/PA Wire

The arm bones suggested which skeletons may have belonged to early university scholars and which belonged to manual workers.

Almost all townsmen had asymmetric arm bones, with their right upper arm bone built more strongly than their left one, reflecting tough working regimes, particularly in early adulthood.

However, about 10 men from a hospital burial ground dated around the 14th and 15th centuries were found to have symmetrical upper arm bones, suggesting they may been more academic.

Lead researcher Prof John Robb said: “These men did not habitually do manual labour or craft, and they lived in good health with decent nutrition, normally to an older age.

“It seems likely they were early scholars of the University of Cambridge.

"University clerics did not have the novice-to-grave support of clergy in religious orders.

"Most scholars were supported by family money, earnings from teaching, or charitable patronage."

Less well-off scholars risked poverty once illness or infirmity took hold.

“As the university grew, more scholars would have ended up in hospital cemeteries," he added.

The 'osteobiographies' used all available evidence to reconstruct a person’s life, Prof Robb said.“

Researchers have been looking into the bones of people who lived in medieval Cambridge to better understand how 'ordinary folk' lived. Credit: Cambridge Archaeological Unit/PA Wire

"Our team used techniques familiar from studies such as Richard III’s skeleton, but this time to reveal details of unknown lives – people we would never learn about in any other way,” he said.

Researcher Dr Sarah Inskip, now at the University of Leicester, said: “The importance of using osteobiography on ordinary folk rather than elites, who are documented in historical sources, is that they represent the majority of the population but are those that we know least about.”

The full osteobiographies are available on a new website launched by the After The Plague project at Cambridge University’s Department of Archaeology – www.aftertheplague.com

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