May
Biographic Data
| ID | 26701 |
|---|---|
| NAME | May |
| FAMILY NAME | May |
| SIGNATURE | MAY |
| AFFILIATIONS | English Heritage |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0352-5625 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 111 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 891 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 111 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1985 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 17 |
Establishing a Chronology for Roman and Post-Roman Stanwick, Northamptonshire
The programme of radiocarbon dating undertaken at Stanwick, Northamptonshire, demonstrates the value of scientific dating of Romano-British sites, including those with good pottery sequences and large numbers of datable coins and other finds. It has refined and clarified the chronology and phasing of the site, particularly in its final phase of occupation. It confirmed some of our original dating of the human burials, and showed other dates were …
A possible case of hypertrophic osteopathy in osteological remains representing cattle hide processing from a Roman villa in England
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the likelihood that pathological features noted on cattle bones indicate that the animal suffered hypertrophic osteopathy. MATERIALS: Cattle bones, mostly from the lower extremities, representing a single individual, recovered from a Romano-British villa (4th century CE). METHODS: The remains were subject to macroscopic, low-power microscopic, radiographic and μCT study, as well as biomolecular analysis for M. tuberculosis …
A biocultural study of nasal fracture, violence, and gender using 19th-20th century skeletal remains from Portugal
Nasal fracture is usually described as the most common type of fracture of the facial bones, either alone or associated with other fractures. This work aims to study the nasal fracture among Portuguese individuals from the 19th and 20th centuries. The focus is on patterning in trauma in relation to gender and in the attempt to distinguish violent from accidental injury. The sample comprises 2023 (52.6% males, 47.4% females) individuals from three…
Compiled by Aila ReN Coordinator, Glenda El Gamal, Khalifa University, [email protected]
The relationship between dental wear and age at death in British archaeological human skeletal remains
The chart relating molar wear to age published by Brothwell in 1963 is widely used to estimate age at death in archaeological adult human skeletal remains, especially in Britain, but also more widely. The chart was based on examination of juvenile and adult dentitions from Neolithic to Medieval periods from Britain, but few further details of materials and methods were given. The aim of this work is to re-assess the value of molar wear for estima…
Microcomputed tomography (laboratory and synchrotron) of intact archeological human second metacarpal bones and age at death
Laboratory microcomputed tomography (microCT) and synchrotron microCT imaged intact human second metacarpal bones (mc2) from two UK archeological sites: Ancaster (3rd to 4th century CE) and Wharram Percy (11th to 14th century CE). Two female mc2 were studied from each of three age at death cohorts (young, 18-29 years; middle, 30-49 years; old ≥50 years) along with a modern control mc2. The present investigation is complementary with an X-ray scat…
Analysis of a medieval strain of mycobacterium leprae from the deserted medieval village site of Wharram Percy, Yorkshire, UK
Intact archeological human bones and age at death studied with transmission x‐ray diffraction and small angle x‐ray scattering
High‐energy, wide‐angle x‐ray scattering (WAXS, x‐ray diffraction) and small‐angle x‐ray scattering (SAXS) were used to study intact human second metacarpal bones (mc2) from two UK archeological sites. A novel method correcting for irregular mass distribution was applied in these transmission geometry experiments done at beamline 1‐ID of the Advanced Photon Source. The authors asked whether there were age‐at‐death‐related changes in carbonated ap…
Quantifying cortical bone in fragmentary archeological second metacarpals
Objectives Skeletal variation in cortical bone thickness is an indicator of bone quality and health in archeological populations. Second metacarpal radiogrammetry, which measures cortical thickness at the shaft midpoint, is traditionally used to evaluate bone loss in bioarcheological and some clinical contexts. However fragmentary elements are regularly omitted because the midpoint cannot be determined. This methodological limitation reduces samp…
A new approach to recording nasal fracture in skeletonized individuals
Middle Neolithic pits and a burial at West Amesbury, Wiltshire
Excavations on the south-eastern slopes of King Barrow Ridge, 1.5 km east of Stonehenge, revealed five pits, a grave and other features of Middle Neolithic date. Analysis of the pit assemblages and the partial inhumation interred in the grave has provided insights into lifeways in this landscape in the late fourth millennium cal BC. Evidence suggests that the area was visited by a pastoralist, mobile community on a semi-regular basis for a signif…
Effects of age and body proportions on stature estimation
OBJECTIVES: Two issues involved in mathematical estimation of stature from long bone lengths are explored: the use of different age points for estimating maximum adult stature, and the effects of linear body proportions on stature estimation errors. Both issues were raised by a recent analysis of stature in the British Medieval Wharram Percy sample. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A large (n > 500) sample of European skeletal remains with anatomically est…
Vitamin D deficiency and the ancient city
Analysis of patterning in the occurrence of skeletal lesions used as indicators of vitamin D deficiency in subadult and adult skeletal remains
How should we diagnose disease in palaeopathology? Some epistemological considerations
The Franklin expedition
Lives before and after Stonehenge
Osteobiographies of four individuals whose skeletal remains were recovered in 2015–16 from the Stonehenge World Heritage Site are constructed, drawing upon evidence from funerary taphonomy, radiocarbon dating, osteological study, stable isotope analyses, and microscopic and biomolecular analyses of dental calculus. The burials comprise an adult from the Middle Neolithic period, immediately prior to the building of Stonehenge, and two adults and a…
Latitude, urbanization, age, and sex as risk factors for vitamin D deficiency disease in the Roman Empire
OBJECTIVES: The aims of the study are to investigate the effects of latitude, settlement type, age, and sex on the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency disease in the Roman Empire using human skeletal remains from cemetery sites (1st to 6th cent. AD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data from 2,787 individuals (1,143 subadults, 1,644 adults) from 18 cemeteries associated with 15 different settlements in the Mediterranean and north-western Europe were analyz…
Child Bioarchaeology
This article aims to provide an overview of some of the more important developments in the bioarchaeology of childhood over the past decade. Analysis of publication trends in the major osteoarchaeology and physical anthropology journals demonstrated a rise in research papers dealing with skeletal remains of children, with dietary and palaeopathological studies especially predominant. Innovations in these areas are discussed in more detail, togeth…
A multidisciplinary study of a burnt and mutilated assemblage of human remains from a deserted Mediaeval village in England
This work is a study of an assemblage of disarticulated human skeletal remains from a pit on the Mediaeval village site of Wharram Percy, England. The remains show evidence of perimortal breakage, burning and tool marks. The purpose of the study is to attempt to shed light on the human activity that might have produced the assemblage. The remains are subject to radiocarbon dating, strontium isotope analysis, and gross and microscopic osteological…
A test of a skeletal ageing method based on resorption of the alveolar crest following tooth loss using a skeletal population of documented age at death
OBJECTIVES: Resorption of the alveolar process occurs following tooth loss, and appears to continue for a prolonged period. Previous study (Mays, ) with a known-age collection of human remains suggested the potential of this phenomenon for age estimation in remains of adults who have lost one or more molar teeth. This article tests this ageing technique on another known age group, and attempts to evaluate the impact of some extraneous factors on …
An Unusual Erosive Arthropathy from Medieval England
In palaeopathology, diagnosis of skeletal disease is classically made with reference to changes wrought by known diseases in modern or recent cases. This report presents a skeleton from medieval England which shows a form of erosive arthropathy. A more precise diagnosis is problematic because the alterations appear inconsistent with any of the principle forms of erosive arthropathy in current clinical classification. The distribution of lesions i…
Bone‐formers and bone‐losers in an archaeological population
OBJECTIVES: Recent biomedical research suggests that, in modern human populations, individuals may vary in their inherent tendency toward bone formation at skeletal and extra-skeletal locations. However, the nature of this phenomenon is incompletely understood, and the extent to which it might apply to past populations is unclear. It is hypothesized that if there is inter-individual variation in some overall tendency toward bone formation in skel…
The Ghostly Child in Medieval North-west Europe
This work studies sixty Medieval ghost stories and analyses the role of children in these tales. Most stories were recorded for use as exempla, short narratives to be used in preaching to illustrate the dangers of sin. Ghosts took the form of apparitions (having the appearance of the person in life but lacking physical substance) or of revenant corpses (reanimated bodies that arise from their graves). Children occasionally feature as apparitions …
A Case of Early Childhood Caries from Late Roman Ancaster, England
This paper presents a differential diagnosis of pathological changes observed in the deciduous dentition of a child aged 3-4 years, recovered from a Late Roman (c. ad 270-410) cemetery at Ancaster, England. The entire maxillary dentition exhibited areas of missing enamel and erosion of the underlying dentine, which was most pronounced at the lingual surfaces of the anterior teeth, and lingual and occlusal surfaces of the molars. Additionally, the…
Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope variations in tooth dentine serial sections from Wharram Percy
Logical form, its structure and derivation
Carbon Stable Isotope Ratios in Mediaeval and Later Human Skeletons From Northern England
Handedness and directional asymmetry in the long bones of the human upper limb
The long bones of the human upper limb usually show lateral asymmetries of length. This pattern can be attributed either to the mechanical consequences of handedness bias or to genetic or hormonal factors acting directly on longitudinal bone growth. Length data was obtained from the long bones of the upper limbs of a large skeletal assemblage from Wharram Percy, Yorkshire (England), predominantly deriving from the 11th-16th centuries A.D. The Wha…
The effects of socioeconomic status on endochondral and appositional bone growth, and acquisition of cortical bone in children from 19th century Birmingham, England
Endochondral growth, appositional growth, and acquisition of cortical bone thickness in the femur are investigated in subadult skeletons ( N = 43, dental age range birth to 12 years) from the 19 th ‐century AD burial site of St. Martin's churchyard, Birmingham, England. Endochondral growth is monitored using diaphyseal femoral length. Appositional growth is monitored using radiographic midshaft mediolateral width and acquisition of cortical bone …
Some Sexually Dimorphic Features of the Human Juvenile Skull and their Value in Sex Determination in Immature Skeletal Remains
Molar crown height as a means of evaluating existing dental wear scales for estimating age at death in human skeletal remains
The Relationship between Harris Lines and other Aspects of Skeletal Development in Adults and Juveniles
An investigation of diet in early Anglo-Saxon England using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of human bone collagen
The Relationship Between Molar Wear and Age in an Early 19th Century AD Archaeological Human Skeletal Series of Documented Age at Death
Bone strontium
Asymmetry in Metacarpal Cortical Bone in a Collection of British Post-Mediaeval Human Skeletons
Paleopathological and biomolecular study of tuberculosis in a medieval skeletal collection from England
Nine human skeletons of medieval date from a rural English burial site show signs of skeletal tuberculosis. They were subject to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays aimed at detecting traces of DNA from infecting mycobacteria, with the purpose both of confirming the paleopathological diagnosis of tuberculosis and determining in individual cases whether disease was due to M. tuberculosis or M. bovis . In all nine cases, evidence for M. tubercul…
An investigation of skeletal indicators of vitamin D deficiency in adults
Vitamin D deficiency in adults is referred to as osteomalacia, and this condition has multiple causes related to factors such as environment, living conditions and cultural practices. Therefore, understanding the types and range of expression of osteomalacia in archaeological bone, using a number of investigative techniques, will have significant implications for interpretations made about past communities. This study aimed to understand the expr…
Oxygen isotope analysis of human bone phosphate evidences weaning age in archaeological populations
Here we report bone phosphate oxygen (δ 18 O p ) values from perinates/neonates and infants ( n = 32); children (4–12 years; n = 12); unsexed juveniles (16–18 years; n = 2); and adult bones ( n = 17) from Wharram Percy, North Yorkshire, England, in order to explore the potential of this method to investigate patterns of past breastfeeding and weaning. In prior studies, δ 15 N and δ 13 C analyses of bone collagen have been utilized to explore wean…
Skeletal manifestations of vitamin D deficiency osteomalacia in documented historical collections
The frequency with which changes related to vitamin D deficiency are recorded in juvenile bone from archaeological contexts makes it clear that conditions conducive to such deficiency were fairly widespread at a number of points in the past. Although changes will take longer to be manifest in the adult skeleton than in juveniles, and may not be as obvious, the scarcity of reported cases suggests that it is likely that cases of osteomalacia are be…
Effects of age and occupation on cortical bone in a group of 18th–19th century British men
The effects of age and occupation on cortical bone in a group of adult males from the 18th–19th century AD skeletal collection from Christ Church Spitalfields, London, were investigated. Cortical bone was monitored using metacarpal radiogrammetry. Individual age at death was known exactly from coffin plates. Occupation for individuals was known from historical sources. Results showed that continued periosteal apposition was evident throughout adu…
Evaluation and interpretation of residual rickets deformities in adults
Recent research has considerably improved the recognition and recording of rickets and osteomalacia in archaeological human bone, but the recognition and recording of residual deformities of rickets present in adults is still limited. The aim of this study was to assist with differential diagnosis of residual rickets deformities and determine which of the deformities that are characteristic of rickets could be identified in the adult skeleton. Lo…
Two probable cases of treponemal disease of Medieval date from England
Two British Medieval skeletons are described. Paleopathological examination suggests that treponemal disease was present in each case. Radiocarbon dating indicates that one is firmly pre‐Columbian, and the other of likely pre‐Columbian date. The implications for our understanding of the history and geographic spread of the treponemal diseases, particularly venereal syphilis, are discussed. Am J Phys Anthropol 120:133–143, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss,…
The relationship between harris line formation and bone growth and development
The Archaeology of Osteoporosis
The application of medical scanning technologies to archaeological skeletons provides novel insights into the history and potential causes of osteoporosis. The present study investigated bone mineral density (BMD) in medieval skeletons from England and Norway. Comparisons between the two adult populations found no statistically significant differences. This compares with a modern fracture incidence for the femoral neck in women from Norway that i…
Infanticide in Roman Britain
Age-distributions of perinatal infants from Romano-British sites and a medieval site are different and may reflect different major causes of death. Whilst the medieval infants probably represent natural deaths, the Romano-British infants, from both cemetery and non-cemetery sites, may mainly represent victims of infanticide
Sex Identification in Some Putative Infanticide Victims from Roman Britain Using Ancient DNA
Growth and vitamin D deficiency in a population from 19th century Birmingham, England
The West Midlands of England were the cradle of the Industrial Revolution. The 19th century AD skeletal remains from St Martin's Church, Birmingham, West Midlands, provided an important opportunity to assess the health of an urban, working-class population at this key point in British history. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of rickets on growth in this population. Modern clinical data suggest that those with vitamin D defi…
A likely case of scurvy from early Bronze Age Britain
A probable case of scurvy is identified in a child skeleton from England, dating to 2200-1970 BC. Lesions were mainly restricted to the ectocranium, but some endocranial lesions were also seen. This appears to be the earliest reported example of scurvy from Britain, and adds to the very few palaeopathological case descriptions available for the disease in infants and young children from Europe. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
The relationship between harris line formation and bone growth and development
Suicide and Self-Destruction Among American Indian Youths
The Health Status of Indian Children
That was Yesterday, and (Hopefully) Yesterday is Gone
Logical form, its structure and derivation
Alchohol Policy Considerations for Indian Reservations and Bordertown Communities
For some topics, particularly in public health, summaries are dangerous because they may create the idea that a single or simple solution exists. This topic is one where a summary can create a false expectation of simplicity. There is no simple or easy solution to the problem of alcohol abuse in any community, especially reservation and bordertown communities in the western United States. The solution is complex, it must be comprehensive, and it …
Infanticide in Roman Britain
Age-distributions of perinatal infants from Romano-British sites and a medieval site are different and may reflect different major causes of death. Whilst the medieval infants probably represent natural deaths, the Romano-British infants, from both cemetery and non-cemetery sites, may mainly represent victims of infanticide
Indian Adolescent Suicide
The Relationship between Harris Lines and other Aspects of Skeletal Development in Adults and Juveniles
Molar crown height as a means of evaluating existing dental wear scales for estimating age at death in human skeletal remains
Handedness and directional asymmetry in the long bones of the human upper limb
The long bones of the human upper limb usually show lateral asymmetries of length. This pattern can be attributed either to the mechanical consequences of handedness bias or to genetic or hormonal factors acting directly on longitudinal bone growth. Length data was obtained from the long bones of the upper limbs of a large skeletal assemblage from Wharram Percy, Yorkshire (England), predominantly deriving from the 11th-16th centuries A.D. The Wha…
Healed limb amputations in human osteoarchaeology and their causes
An adult male skeleton of Medieval date from Ipswich, UK, shows amputation of the right hand. The morphology of the bones suggests a quiescent stump, in which healing had been completed some time before death. Osteometric, morphological and radiographic data show that the mutilated limb continued to function but was used to a lesser degree than the intact side. A review of some of the literature on the osteoarchaeological evidence for healed limb…
Age-dependent cortical bone loss in a medieval population
Age-dependent cortical bone loss was studied in a skeletal assemblage from a British medieval site using metacarpal radiogrammetry. Significant loss of bone was found in the females but not in the males. The magnitude of bone loss in the older females relative to their younger counterparts was found to be similar to that reported for modern European subjects. Low cortical bone was associated with healed fractures of the highly trabecular bone of …
Healed limb amputations in human osteoarchaeology and their causes
An adult male skeleton of Medieval date from Ipswich, UK, shows amputation of the right hand. The morphology of the bones suggests a quiescent stump, in which healing had been completed some time before death. Osteometric, morphological and radiographic data show that the mutilated limb continued to function but was used to a lesser degree than the intact side. A review of some of the literature on the osteoarchaeological evidence for healed limb…
Archaeology and Environment of a Bronze Age Cairn and Prehistoric and Romano-British Field System at Chysauster, Gulval, near Penzance, Cornwall
The project involved the survey and selective excavation of an area of field system adjoining the Romano-British ‘courtyard house’ settlement of Chysauster, near Penzance, Cornwall, supported by soil and pollen studies and by the extensive landscape surveys. The excavation had two main elements: study of the rectilinear field system and excavation of a Bronze Age funerary cairn incorporated in one of the field boundaries. The earliest field syste…
A mutilated human skull from Roman St Albans, Hertfordshire, England
A skull excavated from a 2nd-century AD pit in the Roman city of St Albans shows evidence for violent injury and displays cut-marks which seem to indicate deliberate defleshing. The find appears to be without close parallel in Roman Britain
A perspective on human osteoarchaeology in Britain
Using counts of papers published in academic journals, an attempt will be made to discern something of the character of the research carried out by British workers on human skeletal remains from archaeological sites. An aim is to try to assess the degree of emphasis that there is on paleopathology as opposed to other areas of osteoarchaeological study, and to determine more closely the nature of paleopathological enquiry in the UK. Comparisons wi…
Carbon Stable Isotope Ratios in Mediaeval and Later Human Skeletons From Northern England
Dry-bone manifestations of rickets in infancy and early childhood
Rickets and osteomalacia are the subadult and adult expressions of a disease in which the underlying problem is a failure to mineralize bone protein (osteoid). The most common cause of this disease is a physiological deficiency in vitamin D. The associated problems include deformed bones and this condition is well known in pre-modern medical texts and documents as a fairly common cause of morbidity. Given these facts, it is surprising that the li…
Age-dependent bone loss in the femur in a medieval population
Age-dependent bone loss in femurs in a medieval skeletal assemblage from Wharram Percy, England was studied. Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) was used to measure bone mineral density (BMD) in the proximal femur; radiogrammetry was used to measure cortical index (FEMCI) at the femur mid-shaft. Age-related loss of BMD was found in the proximal femur in both sexes. Females but not males showed loss of FEMCI. Patterning in bone loss with respec…
Some Sexually Dimorphic Features of the Human Juvenile Skull and their Value in Sex Determination in Immature Skeletal Remains
Directional asymmetry in the human clavicle
The human right clavicle tends to be shorter than the left. A range of possible explanations can be advanced to account for this asymmetry. In the present work, clavicular morphology was studied in a medieval skeletal assemblage from Wharram Percy, England, with the aim of evaluating these competing explanations. At Wharram Percy, as anticipated, the right clavicle tended to be shorter. Patterns of asymmetry in curvature, robusticity, vasculariza…
A biomechanical study of activity patterns in a medieval human skeletal assemblage
Activity patterns in an assemblage of medieval skeletons from York, England, are investigated using analyses of biomechanical properties of the humeral diaphyses. Evidence is found for differences in activity patterns between males and females and between male layfolk and members of a male monastic community. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Directional asymmetry in the human clavicle
The human right clavicle tends to be shorter than the left. A range of possible explanations can be advanced to account for this asymmetry. In the present work, clavicular morphology was studied in a medieval skeletal assemblage from Wharram Percy, England, with the aim of evaluating these competing explanations. At Wharram Percy, as anticipated, the right clavicle tended to be shorter. Patterns of asymmetry in curvature, robusticity, vasculariza…
Age-dependent cortical bone loss in women from 18th and early 19th Century London
Age-dependent cortical bone loss was investigated in an earlier British population. The study sample comprised female skeletons from the 18th/19th century crypt at Christ Church, Spitalfields, London. Bone loss was monitored using metacarpal radiogrammetry. Age at death was known exactly from coffin plates. Results indicated that peak cortical thickness was less than in modern subjects. Continuing periosteal apposition was evident throughout adul…
Medicine (70 works) · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (68 works) · Archaeology (40 works) · Biology (37 works) · Anatomy (31 works) · Paleopathology and ancient diseases (31 works) · Geography (28 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (27 works) · History (27 works) · Paleopathology (25 works)