The antiquity of leprosy in Britain : the skeletal evidence.

Abstract

Leprosy has hIId • long history in Britain and ycC most of the evidence comprises historical documentation and ioooographic evidence.The primary evidc:Doe for the disease, in skelcta.lranains.bas been reponed sporadically over the years.This paper brings together the extant data 10 far from published and unpublished work.. consideriDg age md sex distribution.distribution panem and funerary OODtext.A tota.I of 121 individuals were affected in 41 archaeolog;cal sites from a total of &253 burials reveal.iDgskeletons (I.SS%).Most examples came from the lIIer Medieval period.moSi ....'ere male, and the majority of sites revealing leprous mdividuals were not leprosy hospital cemeteries.The resuJts are discussed with refcreoce to the limitations oftbe data.with suggestions for future work.Leprosy, Britain.frequency.Historic period.deletal evidence .. I_trod_dio.'Few diseases bave: a richer culrural heritage.and none so rich a mythology' (Fine, 1982: I).Leprosy is a disease with a long history whose occwrence and character today in some parts of the world indicate that.socially, it is still considered a stigmarising condition that leads to ostracism and isolation (Joseph and Rao.1999).Of course., the stigma anached to any disease is often the result of inappropriate cooccptualisatioo of what the disease is and bow it is transmitted: leprosy is not the

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