The dark satanic mills: Evaluating patterns of health in England during the industrial revolution

Buckberry, Jo; Crane-Kramer, Gillian

doi:10.1016/j.ijpp.2022.10.002

Cited by 12 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…There is ample evidence from bioarchaeological studies that factors linked with poverty, such as poor nutrition, infectious disease, harsh working conditions, and overcrowded, unsanitary, and polluted environmental conditions, heightened morbidity, mortality, and growth impairment among children (Buckberry & Crane‐Kramer, 2022; DeWitte et al, 2016; Hodson & Gowland, 2019; Newman & Gowland, 2017). The growth of children buried at Tõnismägi lagged behind their modern and later medieval peers, particularly between 6 and 9 years, and was more comparable to children from industrialized London.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growing up in the suburbs: Growth faltering and disease burden in the children from 16th to 18th century Tallinn, Estonia

Vilumets,

Aguraiuja‐Lätti,

Lewis

2023

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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This paper presents the results of the first large‐scale study of children from early modern northern Estonia. A total of 191 non‐adults (<17 years) from the 16th–18th century Tõnismägi cemetery in the suburbs of Tallinn were analyzed to gain a better understanding of the health and living environment of these low‐status children. This was achieved through growth analysis and palaeopathological investigation of metabolic and respiratory diseases such as scurvy, vitamin D deficiency, and tuberculosis. Growth disruption was shown to be the most severe among non‐adults aged between 4 and 9 years and comparable to children living in post‐medieval London. It is unlikely that the children from Tallinn would have experienced the same level of industrial hazards as those in London, but poor socioeconomic status, an impoverished diet, and unsanitary living conditions in the suburbs had a detrimental effect on the growth of these non‐adults. This was supported by a statistically significant correlation between growth faltering and respiratory infections and evidence for scurvy in 40% of the infants (n = 30). The most likely cause was early weaning and a diet devoid of vitamin C, induced by poverty and cultural practices. The prevalence of rickets was much lower when compared with other post‐medieval populations in Europe, at just 1.2%. This suggests that children living in Tallinn were not deprived of sunlight and may have had access to more green spaces.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growing up in the suburbs: Growth faltering and disease burden in the children from 16th to 18th century Tallinn, Estonia

Vilumets,

Aguraiuja‐Lätti,

Lewis

2023

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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“…This provides an understanding of the nature of physical manifestations of dental disease. Due to these macroscopic investigations it is known that dental disease was generally less frequent in hunter-gatherers [134][135][136], increased in many populations that adopted agriculture [119,134,137] and then further increased in prevalence in populations that have undergone industrialization [38,138]. To gain evidence of dental disease in ancient oral microbiomes it must be possible to observe a change in the characteristics of the bacterial communities between healthy and diseased oral environments via the aDNA preserved in dental calculus.…”

Section: Diseasementioning

confidence: 99%

Inferring diet, disease and antibiotic resistance from ancient human oral microbiomes

Dahlquist-Axe,

Standeven,

Speller

et al. 2024

Microbial Genomics

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The interaction between a host and its microbiome is an area of intense study. For the human host, it is known that the various body-site-associated microbiomes impact heavily on health and disease states. For instance, the oral microbiome is a source of various pathogens and potential antibiotic resistance gene pools. The effect of historical changes to the human host and environment to the associated microbiome, however, has been less well explored. In this review, we characterize several historical and prehistoric events which are considered to have impacted the oral environment and therefore the bacterial communities residing within it. The link between evolutionary changes to the oral microbiota and the significant societal and behavioural changes occurring during the pre-Neolithic, Agricultural Revolution, Industrial Revolution and Antibiotic Era is outlined. While previous studies suggest the functional profile of these communities may have shifted over the centuries, there is currently a gap in knowledge that needs to be filled. Biomolecular archaeological evidence of innate antimicrobial resistance within the oral microbiome shows an increase in the abundance of antimicrobial resistance genes since the advent and widespread use of antibiotics in the modern era. Nevertheless, a lack of research into the prevalence and evolution of antimicrobial resistance within the oral microbiome throughout history hinders our ability to combat antimicrobial resistance in the modern era.

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“…It can be detected in human skeletal remains from the altered shape of the long bones in the limbs, pelvis, ribs and increased porosity of bones across the skeleton (Mays et al, 2006). A large study comparing the skeletons of 1154 individuals who lived in 11 th -17 th century Britain with 4157 individuals living at the time of the industrial revolution (18 th -19 th century) found prevalence of rickets severe enough to cause permanent change to the shape of the bones increased by a factor of ×10 over this period, from 0.5% to 6% (Buckberry and Crane-Kramer, 2022).…”

Section: Paleopathology and Urbanizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using paleopathology to provide a deep-time perspective that improves our understanding of one health challenges: Exploring urbanization

Mitchell

2024

Res. dir. One health

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The question posed is how deep time perspectives contribute to tackling contemporary One Health challenges, improving understanding and disease mitigation. Using evidence from the field of paleopathology, it is possible to explore this question and highlight key learning points from the past to focus the minds of those making healthcare policy decisions today. In previous centuries urbanisation led to poorer health for a wide range of indicators, including life expectancy, sanitation and intestinal parasites, airway disorders such as maxillary sinusitis, metabolic diseases such as rickets, and even conditions resulting from clothing fashions such as bunions. Modern concerns regarding the quality of urban air and rivers shows we have still to incorporate these lessons. When we consider major infectious diseases affecting past societies such as bubonic plague, tuberculosis and leprosy, interaction between humans and wild mammal reservoirs was key. Wild red squirrels in Britain today remain infected by the medieval strain of leprosy that affected people 1,500 years ago. It is clear that the One Health focus on the interaction between humans, animals and their environment is important. Eradicating zoonotic infectious diseases from humans but not these reservoirs leaves the door open to their spread back to people in the future.

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The dark satanic mills: Evaluating patterns of health in England during the industrial revolution

Cited by 12 publications

References 47 publications

Growing up in the suburbs: Growth faltering and disease burden in the children from 16th to 18th century Tallinn, Estonia

Growing up in the suburbs: Growth faltering and disease burden in the children from 16th to 18th century Tallinn, Estonia

Inferring diet, disease and antibiotic resistance from ancient human oral microbiomes

Using paleopathology to provide a deep-time perspective that improves our understanding of one health challenges: Exploring urbanization

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