Disease and trauma in the children from Roman Britain

The skeletal remains of children provide an effective measure of population fitness in the past. The ability of a society to keep its most vulnerable members alive, and in good health, attests to the success of to its adaptation to the surrounding environment (Lewis 2007). Studies of children in Roman Britain have previously focussed on their burials (Gowland 2001), infanticide (Mays 1993; Mays and Faerman 2001; Mays and Eyers 2011; Gowland and Chamberlain 2002), and the life course (Gowland 2003), but there is now a growing interest in the evidence for diet and disease (Redfern 2007; 2008; Lewis 2010; 2011 a, b; Redfern, Millard and Hamlin 2012). This chapter assesses our current knowledge of Romano-British childhood health, with a particular focus on urban settlements. It explores the potential for pathological analysis to reveal information about diet, air pollution, immigration and the treatment of the disabled, and it also reveals how re-examination of skeletal collections using new techniques can identify conditions rarely, or never, previously identified among Romano-British skeletal populations