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Since its first mention in 963AD, the city and especially the fortress of Luxembourg had been growing steadily throughout the medieval times under the rule of the counts of Luxembourg. However, it is only in 1443AD, after the conquest by Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, that the city of Luxembourg, which by then had become one of the strongest fortresses in western Europe, was finally caught between the fronts of the major political forces of the time. From then on until the demolition of the fortress in the mid-19th century, life in Luxembourg City had been dominated by foreign occupations as well as several sieges and wars.
In order to assess the impact these times of political unrest had on the population of the city, 391 individuals buried inside the cloister and on the cemetery grounds of a Franciscan friary which was in use from ~1255AD until 1778AD, were analysed. The cemetery, located beneath a town square nowadays called “Knuedler”, was excavated in 3 campaigns between 2008 and 2018. 14C analyses and evaluation of archaeological data allowed to identify two main burial phases: an older one dating from the mid-14th to the mid-17th century and a younger one dating from the mid-17th century to the cemetery’s dissolution in 1778AD. The aim of this study is to investigate whether there are detectable changes in physical activity, health, and diet, and thus in living conditions over time and amongst different socioeconomic groups, represented by the cloister and cemetery burials. These questions were addressed by examining palaeodemographic parameters, stature and growth, markers of physical activity, diseases and indicators of diet and nutritional status and by comparing the results to contemporaneous rural, urban and monastic sites.
The excess of males in the Knuedler sample, especially among cloister burials, suggests that at least the latter did not represent a biologically grown population. Likely, the resident friars were also buried within the monastic precinct. The high life expectancy, low child mortality and mean age at death can also be taken as indicators of good health and nutritional status, as they suggest that the majority of individuals survived well into adulthood. The stature of the individuals under study reached that of average medieval and postmedieval urban centres and no stunting or delayed growth could be detected during childhood. Furthermore, the low incidence of infectious and metabolic diseases and non-specific stress markers indicate that the individuals buried in the Knuedler friary generally did not experience significant nutritional deficiencies. Altogether, this suggests that, despite the historically documented overcrowding of the city and regular food shortages caused by sieges, wars and epidemics, the inhabitants of Luxembourg City buried in the Knuedler friary were mostly exempt of those hardships. Furthermore, no relevant changes in these health indicators over time could be noted, but discrepancies between the burial locations suggest that those buried within the cloister area were less exposed to infectious diseases and nutritional stress than those buried in the cemetery. Healed infectious diseases, well-aligned fractures and traumatic lesions as well as successful and unsuccessful surgical procedures can be seen as evidence for efficient medical care. The few sharp force and gunshot traumata are evidence of the impact of the wars and sieges on the population of Luxembourg City.
The relatively high proportion of carious lesions and dental calculus could be indicative of a carbohydrate-rich diet with a high protein content, whereas the relatively low dental abrasion suggests that the diet was primarily composed of softer foods with few abrasive components. The results of the stable isotope analyses suggest a diet based primarily on terrestrial C3 plants and animals that fed on them. Differences between the burial locations suggest that individuals from the cloister had less abrasive and cariogenic substances in their diet and consumed either more meat or supplemented their diet periodically with marine or freshwater resources. No noteworthy shift in dietary patterns could be detected between the burial phases regarding the stable isotope results but a decrease in attrition intensity suggests that the texture of the diet softened over time, likely due to improved food production methods. The generally high frequency of dental pathologies such as caries, calculus and periodontopathies are indicative of a general lack of oral hygiene, a pattern observed also in the majority of the archaeological comparative populations. The study of enamel hypoplasia formation ages, first onset of caries and attrition as well as the combination of two stable isotope methods made it possible to narrow down the weaning age period to 1.5-3 years.
As mechanical loading can leave traces on bones, the examination of bilateral asymmetry, bone robusticity, entheseal changes and degenerative joint disease can inform about the intensity of physical activity a population is subjected to. These markers of physical activity showed only light to moderate degrees of expression and their intensity was correlated with age and sex and not with burial location or phases. This suggests that in both socioeconomic groups and in the late medieval and postmedieval times alike, these individuals were engaged in occupations that were not very strenuous. This is in line with findings of other contemporaneous urban sites and shows that their lifestyle was not as physically demanding as that of rural societies.
Altogether, the results of this study paint the picture of individuals that had rather good living conditions despite the historically documented hardships, therefore likely representing a more privileged part of Luxembourg City’s society. Thus, this interdisciplinary study offers the first detailed insights into the living conditions inside one Europe’s strongest fortresses and can serve as a solid basis for further anthropological investigations. |
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