Investigation of a Medieval Pilgrim Burial Excavated from the Leprosarium of St Mary Magdalen Winchester, UK.

We have examined the remains of a Pilgrim burial from St Mary Magdalen, Winchester. The individual was a young adult male, aged around 18-25 years at the time of death. Radiocarbon dating showed the remains dated to the late 11th-early 12th centuries, a time when pilgrimages were at their height in Europe. Several lines of evidence in connection with the burial suggested this was an individual of some means and prestige. Although buried within the leprosarium cemetery, the skeleton showed only minimal skeletal evidence for leprosy, which was confined to the bones of the feet and legs. Nonetheless, molecular testing of several skeletal elements, including uninvolved bones all showed robust evidence of DNA from Mycobacterium leprae, consistent with the lepromatous or multibacillary form of the disease. We infer that in life, this individual almost certainly suffered with multiple soft tissue lesions. Genotyping of the M.leprae strain showed this belonged to the 2F lineage, today associated with cases from South-Central and Western Asia. During osteological examination it was noted that the cranium and facial features displayed atypical morphology for northern European populations. Subsequently, geochemical isotopic analyses carried out on tooth enamel indicated that this individual was indeed not local to the Winchester region, although it was not possible to be more specific about their geographic origin.

'Til Poison Phosphorous Brought them Death': A potentially occupationally-related disease in a post-medieval skeleton from north-east England.

This paper describes the pathological changes observed on the skeleton of a c.12-14 year old person buried in a north-east England Quaker cemetery dated to AD 1711-1857. Bone formation (woven and lamellar) and destruction are present mainly on the mandible, clavicles, sternum and scapulae, long bones of the right arm, left ribs, spine, ilia, and the femora and tibiae. Differential diagnoses of tuberculosis and other pulmonary diseases, smallpox, actinomycosis, neoplastic disease, and "phossy jaw" are considered. While the pathological changes could represent all previously described diseases and thus be associated with the insalubrious conditions in which this person lived, it is also possible that this person worked in the matchmaking industry known to be present in the region at the time. Attention is drawn to the previously overlooked condition "phossy jaw" caused by phosphorus poisoning, which was strongly associated with this industry. While matchstick making was an industry often associated with women and girls, DNA analysis of a bone sample from the skeleton did not successfully identify biological sex. Two dental calculus samples from this person were analysed for phosphorus, and comparisons were made with samples from the same and a different site; the levels did not indicate the person was more exposed to phosphorus than any of the other people at Coach Lane. However, the pathological lesions described also have relevance in a clinical context, because "phossy jaw" has been observed in living populations, arising as a consequence of ingesting phosphorous contained within some pharmaceuticals used for treating neoplastic disease and osteoporosis.