Invisible Environments: reconstructing medieval lifeways using microparticles in Ancient Human Dental Calculus

Dental calculus (calcified dental plaque) can survive on archaeological skeletons for millennia, and an increasing number of studies are showing its potential to provide evidence of individuals’ lifeways and environments. This is through a range of particles from deliberate ingestion and accidental inhalation that become entrapped in dental calculus as it forms. The pathways of inclusion of these microparticles can provide evidence for diet, daily activities, occupations, and the flora in the surrounding environment. This study explores this evidence in a range of medieval populations characterised as rural, urban, or monastic. It examines whether there are detectable variations between these types of sites, as well as particular status, location, and chronology (i.e., rural and urban, lay and monastic, high-medieval and Anglo-Saxon). This is with the aim of analysing the interplay between factors affecting exposure to microparticles (such as activities, food consumption, and environment) alongside confounding taphonomic factors.
This study also explores how these microparticles can be used in a multiproxy framework, focusing on experimental work, paleopathological data, and stable isotope analysis. This framework highlights the benefits of bringing different data forms to better understand past lifeways and what the microparticles represent. The experimental work published as part of this thesis also shows the potential for particles to be inhaled due to food processing, rather than just consumption, and the complexity of the pathways represented in dental calculus.
Six sites were sampled for analysis, the rural medieval village of Wharram Percy (dating to the 9th to 16th century), three female monastic sites which all date to the 12th to 16th century (Littlemore Priory, Oxford; Nuns Field, St. Mary’s, Chester; Wighill Priory, West Yorkshire), and two smaller case studies from St John's Almshouse of Lichfield, Staffordshire (12th to 14th Century) and St. James’ Abbey, Northampton (12th to 16th century).
The results from this research are also compared with sites analysed by Radini (2016), including high medieval urban sites (St. Michael's and St. Peter’s, Leicester) and two Anglo-Saxon sites (Empingham, Rutland, and Rothley, Leicestershire) to explore urban-rural and temporal differences.
This thesis adds to the growing research showing dental calculus as a context that can provide multifaceted insights into the past and, in particular, highlights the rich potential of this technique to elucidate the daily lives of past populations and people.