The remarkable stories told by human bones from many hundreds of years ago were unfolded by one of the UK’s leading archaeological experts.
Bioarchaeologist Dr Kim Plomp revealed how bones can store all sorts of information that explain how previous generations both lived and died.
“Dental health can be surprisingly telling in terms of human health in years gone by,” said Dr Plomp, a Canadian who now teaches at the University of Liverpool.
“Even something as simple as a tooth cavity could lead to infection that spread to the brain and caused death. That was the impact of not having any form of dental care.”
Dr Plomp, who was delivering the latest of the school’s academic lecture programme, also told about how injuries experienced during life can leave tell-tale marks on bones from which archaeologists can draw important conclusions.
“People often lived with excruciating conditions for many years that now they would receive immdiate medical interventions for. This reminds us of just how difficult life could be prior to modern medicine.”
Year 12 student Scarlett Spillane said: “Dr Plomp had incredible knowledge of so many different areas like medicine and history. Her research is interesting because it covers so many different topics and areas.”