Grave tales : an osteological assessment of health and lifestyle from 18th and 19th century burial sites around Cape Town

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dc.contributor.advisorMorris, Alan Gen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorFriedling, Louise Jen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-11-10T14:19:13Z
dc.date.available2015-11-10T14:19:13Z
dc.date.issued2007en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (p. 249-270).en_ZA
dc.description.abstractTwo unwalled 18th and 19th century colonial burial sites, Cobern Street and Marina Residence, were assessed osteologically and dentally to reconstruct the life histories and activity patterns of the poorer people living at the Cape. This was done to add to the history and knowledge of the descendants of these people, as little other information exists on them. Questions pertaining to diet, stress, activity patterns and trauma were investigated. Visual (standard and novel macroscopic methods e.g. distal humeri method), metric (femoral neck method) and histological (proximal anterior femur) techniques were tested and employed to estimate age and sex, as the skeletal material was fragmentary and incomplete. Only adults were assessed and analysed (n = 86 and n = 75 for Cobern Street and Marina Residence respectively) as the infant, juvenile and sub-adult skeletal material was too badly preserved and fragmentary to attempt reconstruction. Mortality profiles reveal that the two study sites were different in community dynamics. They led hard active lives as seen from their muscle marking and degenerative joint disease patterns. Osteoarthritis was not only very frequent within the groups but was found in much of the younger adult skeletal material. Stress and trauma were relatively low within the two populations. Dental disease was relatively high within the two study groups. This was as a result of a carbohydrate rich diet and poor oral hygiene. Thus the food they were consuming as well as the activities they were involved in had a huge impact on their lives. The first possible cases of syphilis, tuberculosis and Paget's disease at the Cape were found within these two study groups.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationFriedling, L. J. (2007). <i>Grave tales : an osteological assessment of health and lifestyle from 18th and 19th century burial sites around Cape Town</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Health Sciences ,Department of Human Biology. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14813en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationFriedling, Louise J. <i>"Grave tales : an osteological assessment of health and lifestyle from 18th and 19th century burial sites around Cape Town."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Health Sciences ,Department of Human Biology, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14813en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationFriedling, L. 2007. Grave tales : an osteological assessment of health and lifestyle from 18th and 19th century burial sites around Cape Town. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Friedling, Louise J AB - Two unwalled 18th and 19th century colonial burial sites, Cobern Street and Marina Residence, were assessed osteologically and dentally to reconstruct the life histories and activity patterns of the poorer people living at the Cape. This was done to add to the history and knowledge of the descendants of these people, as little other information exists on them. Questions pertaining to diet, stress, activity patterns and trauma were investigated. Visual (standard and novel macroscopic methods e.g. distal humeri method), metric (femoral neck method) and histological (proximal anterior femur) techniques were tested and employed to estimate age and sex, as the skeletal material was fragmentary and incomplete. Only adults were assessed and analysed (n = 86 and n = 75 for Cobern Street and Marina Residence respectively) as the infant, juvenile and sub-adult skeletal material was too badly preserved and fragmentary to attempt reconstruction. Mortality profiles reveal that the two study sites were different in community dynamics. They led hard active lives as seen from their muscle marking and degenerative joint disease patterns. Osteoarthritis was not only very frequent within the groups but was found in much of the younger adult skeletal material. Stress and trauma were relatively low within the two populations. Dental disease was relatively high within the two study groups. This was as a result of a carbohydrate rich diet and poor oral hygiene. Thus the food they were consuming as well as the activities they were involved in had a huge impact on their lives. The first possible cases of syphilis, tuberculosis and Paget's disease at the Cape were found within these two study groups. DA - 2007 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2007 T1 - Grave tales : an osteological assessment of health and lifestyle from 18th and 19th century burial sites around Cape Town TI - Grave tales : an osteological assessment of health and lifestyle from 18th and 19th century burial sites around Cape Town UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14813 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/14813
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationFriedling LJ. Grave tales : an osteological assessment of health and lifestyle from 18th and 19th century burial sites around Cape Town. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Health Sciences ,Department of Human Biology, 2007 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14813en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Human Biologyen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Health Sciencesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherOsteological analysisen_ZA
dc.titleGrave tales : an osteological assessment of health and lifestyle from 18th and 19th century burial sites around Cape Townen_ZA
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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