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Medieval Women’s Lives in England
A research project of the Department of Archaeology.
Background
I have been involved in this book project for many years and it is now starting to come to fruition. Dr Anne Grauer at Loyola University of Chicago’s Department of Anthropology (http://www.luc.edu/biology/grauer.shtml) is leading the project, and Dr Pam Graves here at Durham is also a co-author and contributing, as a Medieval archaeologist, to the interpretation of the data. The project involves a large scale overview of the health of women in late Medieval England as seen in their skeletal remains; it has accessed published and unpublished data from over 70 cemetery sites and the data is currently being analysed. We are looking at how women’s lifecourses, as seen in archaeological and historical evidence, impacted on their health and well being in Medieval England. The book that will be produced aims to be a unique and broad ranging perspective on women’s health at this time, including similarities and differences to health today in England.