Doctoral Dissertation Research: Paleodemographic Analysis of Urbanization, Famine and Mortality

城市扩张造成的人口密度迅速增加，助长了传染病的传播、不卫生的生活条件和不稳定的粮食供应。城市生活对生活人口的潜在负面影响引起了公共卫生专家的极大兴趣，特别是城市因素在疾病的发展和严重程度中发挥作用的方式。过去对城市化的研究为我们理解城市化的后果提供了时间深度。本项目将检查中世纪伦敦（约1120-1539年）的健康和饮食模式，以调查城市化背景下病理和营养之间的关系。中世纪英格兰骨骼样本的古人口统计学和生化分析将用于调查城市化和饥荒，以一种独特的方式结合各种方法，将推进生物人类学的研究。该项目将提供关于影响人类健康的环境压力和对不断变化的环境的适应能力的一般性资料。更广泛的影响包括培养女研究生、公共科学推广工作和国际合作的发展。这个为期12个月的论文项目整合了古人口学（危害分析）和生化（稳定同位素分析）方法来检查中世纪伦敦居民的健康和饮食，并调查病理和营养对城市化和饥荒期间死亡率的相互作用。将分析来自城市圣玛丽医院墓地和农村巴顿-亨伯墓地的骨骼数据，以确定中世纪伦敦的发病率和死亡率模式如何随着城市化的增加而随时间变化；评估中世纪伦敦发病率和死亡率的时间变化与同期农村人口的比较；通过将古人口统计学方法与稳定同位素分析相结合，研究向城市环境过渡期间饮食与健康之间的关系；并使用稳定同位素分析（包括一种创新的增量牙质分析方法）来研究中世纪伦敦饥荒的潜在生化标志物。

Rapid increases in population density resulting from urban expansion facilitate the transmission of infectious diseases, unsanitary living conditions, and precarious food supplies. The potential negative effects of urbanism in living populations are of considerable interest to public health experts, particularly the ways in which urban factors play a role in the development and severity of disease. Research on urbanization in the past provides temporal depth to our understanding of the consequences of urbanism. This project will examine patterns of health and diet in medieval London (c. 1120-1539) to investigate the relationship between pathology and nutrition in the context of urbanization. Paleodemographic and biochemical analyses of skeletal samples from medieval England will be used to investigate urbanization and famine, combining approaches in a unique way that will advance research in biological anthropology. The project will be generally informative about environmental pressures that affect human health and adaptability to changing environments. Broader impacts include training of a female graduate student, public science outreach efforts, and development of international collaborations.This 12-month dissertation project integrates paleodemographic (hazard analysis) and biochemical (stable isotope analysis) approaches to examine the health and diet of inhabitants in medieval London and to investigate the interaction of pathology and nutrition on mortality during urbanization and incidences of famine. Skeletal data from the urban St. Mary Spital cemetery and rural Barton-upon-Humber cemetery will be analyzed to determine how morbidity and mortality patterns in medieval London changed over time as a result of increased urbanization; evaluate how temporal changes in morbidity and mortality of medieval London compare to a contemporaneous rural population; investigate the relationship between diet and health during the transition to a more urban environment by integrating paleodemographic approaches with stable isotope analysis; and examine how potential biochemical markers of famine are manifested in medieval London using stable isotope analysis, including an innovative incremental dentine analysis method.