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roman occupation A new study finds that about 2000 years ago in Britain, people were exposed to new diseases and introduced class divisions that restricted access to resources for many communities.
Archaeologists suspect that urbanization during this period resulted in limited access to resources, overcrowded and polluted living conditions, and exposure to lead, which was a significant part of urban Roman infrastructure. This resulted in drastic, long-term effects on the health of the population.
Although the Romans claimed that they “brought”Civilization“For the people of Britannia, the occupation in 43AD caused dramatic social upheaval.
Because the health of Britons during the early Iron Age has been less studied, particularly among women and infants, how Roman occupation actually affected native population remained unclear.
Now, archaeologists have unearthed infant skeletons from that period that were found with significant “negative health markers,” pointing to population-wide suffering during the Roman period — though only in urban areas, researchers say.
Although rural skeletons showed a slight increase in exposure to pathogens, there were no significant differences between Iron Age and Roman health in rural contexts, according to the study published in the journal Nature. ancient times,
In the study, scientists developed a new method to study population health during the Iron Age, which has remained a challenge until now.
Study author Rebecca Pitt, from the University of Reading, said, “Iron Age funerary rites are very different from the organized cemeteries we often associate with the dead. Instead, their customs largely reflect that they believed dismemberment of the body was necessary to free the soul after death.”
“This complicates analysis of this period because there are comparatively few human remains available for study, and complete skeletons cannot always be examined,” Dr Pitt explained.
However, infants of that period were often preserved intact rather than cremated or dismembered.
The scientists looked for signs of specific health “stresses” in infant skeletons, which are known to impact development throughout their lifespan.
These stress factors, such as illness, malnutrition, or other traumatic events, can affect a person’s overall health, resulting in problems later in life, “and may even have an impact on subsequent generations,” the researchers explained.
Archaeologists specifically examine the health of ancient infants and women to gain insight into the stresses that affected different generations.
This gave them a more representative view of the long-term socio-economic changes associated with Roman occupation.
“By looking at mother-infant experiences together, we can see that urbanization has long-lasting effects on people’s health, with negative health symptoms transferred from mothers to their children,” Dr Pitt said.
In total, the researchers studied 646 skeletons from urban and rural Iron Age and Romano-British sites in southern and central England – 372 of children and 274 of adult women.
The analysis confirmed that there was a significant increase in disease in urban areas of Britain during the Roman period.
The findings could have “implications for the health of modern communities,” Dr. Pitt said.
“Currently, children are being born into an increasingly polluted world, and an increasing number of families are struggling with the cost of living,” he said.
“This can seriously impact the development of young children, and result in major impacts on their health and well-being that will last throughout their lifetime and possibly into future generations,” the archaeologist warned.