J M Dittmar
Biographic Data
| ID | 69330 |
|---|---|
| NAME | J M Dittmar |
| GIVEN NAMES | J M |
| FAMILY NAME | Dittmar |
| SIGNATURE | DITTMAR J M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Aberdeen |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3514-1869 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 13 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Giving and taking
The ethics of destructive sampling of human remains has become a critical debate, in part centred on developing minimally invasive techniques that simultaneously maximize information yield. While widely adopted best-practice guidelines have been developed, the proliferation of diverse analytical techniques results in incremental damage that compounds across studies, necessitating coordinated protocols to minimize cumulative destructive impact. He…
Biocultural Perspectives of Infancy, Childhood and Adolescence in the Past
International audience
Investigating the association between intestinal parasite infection and cribra orbitalia in the medieval population of Cambridge, UK
OBJECTIVE: Cribra orbitalia is believed to be a skeletal indicator of chronic anaemia, scurvy, rickets or related metabolic diseases. It has been suggested that it may be used as a proxy indicator for intestinal parasite infection, as parasites often cause anaemia today. Our aim is to investigate this association in the medieval population of Cambridge, UK. MATERIALS: Individuals excavated from the cemeteries of the Augustinian friary and All Sai…
Oral health and nonmolar dental attrition in the Siwa‐period individuals from the Bronze Age Mogou cemetery, Northwest China
Dental data can reveal evidence for a past population's oral health, nutrition, and certain cultural activities. This study aims to explore oral health and dental attrition during the late Bronze Age in order to explore health outcomes in different subgroups as well as aspects of foodways and changes in subsistence strategies during the second millennium BCE in northwest China. To do this, the skeletal remains of adult individuals associated with…
Caring for the injured
OBJECTIVE: To combine paleopathological and biomechanical analysis to reconstruct the impact that a severe skeletal injury had on an individual's ability to function and participate in medieval society. MATERIALS: Three medieval individuals from Cambridge, England with ante-mortem fractures to the lower limb were analyzed. METHODS: Plain X-rays were used to determine the degree of malunion, rotation and overlap of each fracture. Cortical bone arc…
Pathways to the medieval hospital
Medieval hospitals were founded to provide charity, but poverty and infirmity were broad and socially determined categories and little is known about the residents of these institutions and the pathways that led them there. Combining skeletal, isotopic and genetic data, the authors weave a collective biography of individuals buried at the Hospital of St John the Evangelist, Cambridge. By starting with the physical remains, rather than historical …
Assessing the relative benefits of imaging with plain radiographs and microCT scanning to diagnose cancer in past populations
Intestinal parasite infection in the Augustinian friars and general population of medieval Cambridge, UK
OBJECTIVE: To investigate how lifestyle may have impacted the risk of contracting intestinal parasites in medieval England . Regular clergy (such as those living in monasteries) and the lay population form interesting groups for comparison as diet and lifestyle varied significantly. Monasteries were built with latrine blocks and hand washing facilities, unlike houses of the poor. MATERIALS: Sediment samples from the pelvis, along with control sam…
Employing radiography (X‐rays) to localize lesions in human skeletal remains from past populations to allow accurate biopsy, using examples of cancer metastases
Clinical research into biomolecules from infectious diseases and cancers has advanced rapidly in recent years, with two key areas being DNA analysis and proteomics. If we wish to understand important diseases and their associated biomolecules in past populations, techniques are required that will allow accurate biopsy of lesions in excavated human skeletal remains. While locating lesions visible on the surface of a bone is simple, many lesions su…
Violence in Hasmonean Judea
During a salvage excavation conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority, a mass grave containing the skeletal remains from 124 individuals, many with evidence of weapon injuries, was discovered in a water cistern outside the Old City of Jerusalem. Radiocarbon dates derived from human bone and the date of the material finds suggest the skeletal remains date to the end of the 2nd century or the beginning of the 1st century BCE. The aim of this re…
Fancy shoes and painful feet
OBJECTIVE: Hallux valgus, the lateral deviation of the great toe, can result in poor balance, impaired mobility and is an independent risk factor for falls. This research aims to compare the prevalence of hallux valgus in subpopulations of medieval Cambridge, England, and to examine the relationship between hallux valgus and fractures to examine the impact of impaired mobility and poor balance caused by this condition. MATERIALS: 177 adult indivi…
The greatest health problem of the Middle Ages? Estimating the burden of disease in medieval England
Gout and ‘Podagra’ in medieval Cambridge, England
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence rate of gout and to explore the social factors that contributed to its development in the various sub-populations in medieval Cambridge. MATERIALS: 177 adult individuals from four medieval cemeteries located in and around Cambridge, UK. METHODS: Lesions were assessed macroscopically and radiographically. Elements with lytic lesions were described and imaged using micro-computed tomography (μCT) to determine t…
Medieval injuries
OBJECTIVE: To explore how medieval living conditions, occupation, and an individual's role within society impacted their risk of skeletal trauma. MATERIALS: The skeletal remains of 314 individuals from medieval Cambridge that were buried in the parish cemetery of All Saints by the Castle (n = 84), the Augustinian friary (n = 75), and the cemetery of the Hospital of St John the Evangelist (n = 155) were analyzed. METHODS: Macroscopic examination a…
The Mogou Bioarchaeology Project
Bioarchaeological research provides unique insights on human adaptation, diet, lifestyle and epidemiology. The Mogou Bioarchaeology Project explores how health was affected by the Bronze Age transition in north-west China. Preliminary results reveal that the inhabitants experienced substantial physiological stress, infectious disease and lethal trauma
A probable case of multiple myeloma from Bronze Age China
OBJECTIVE: Paleopathological evidence of cancer from past populations is rare, especially outside of Europe and North Africa. This study expands upon the current temporal and spatial distribution of cancer by presenting a probable case of multiple myeloma from Bronze Age China. MATERIAL: The human skeletal remains of an adult male from the Qijia culture horizon (1750-1400 BCE) of the Bronze Age cemetery of Mogou (), located in Gansu Province, Nor…
Equality after Death
Since the medieval period, anatomical dissection has been considered a cornerstone of medical education. In recent decades, several archaeological excavations have uncovered evidence of this practice in the form of tool marks on human skeletal remains. At the majority of sites where dissected individuals were uncovered, remains of men considerably outnumbered those of women. The aim of this research is to investigate how postmortem treatment of m…
Osteobiography
What is osteobiography good for? The last generation of archaeologists fought to overcome the traditional assumption that archaeology is merely ancillary to history, a substitute to be used when written sources are defective; it is now widely acknowledged that material histories and textual histories tell equally valid and complementary stories about the past. Yet the traditional assumption hangs on implicitly in biography: osteobiography is used…
Skeletal evidence for violent trauma from the bronze age Qijia culture (2,300-1,500 BCE), Gansu Province, China
This research explores how social and environmental factors may have contributed to conflict during the early Bronze Age in Northwest China by analyzing violent trauma on human skeletal remains from a cemetery of the Qijia culture (2300-1500 BCE). The Qijia culture existed during a period of dramatic social, technological, and environmental change, though minimal research has been conducted on how these factors may have contributed to violence wi…
The comparison and application of silicone casting material for trauma analysis on well preserved archaeological skeletal remains
A new method for identifying and differentiating human dissection and autopsy in archaeological human skeletal remains
Pathways to the medieval hospital
Medieval hospitals were founded to provide charity, but poverty and infirmity were broad and socially determined categories and little is known about the residents of these institutions and the pathways that led them there. Combining skeletal, isotopic and genetic data, the authors weave a collective biography of individuals buried at the Hospital of St John the Evangelist, Cambridge. By starting with the physical remains, rather than historical …
Medieval injuries
OBJECTIVE: To explore how medieval living conditions, occupation, and an individual's role within society impacted their risk of skeletal trauma. MATERIALS: The skeletal remains of 314 individuals from medieval Cambridge that were buried in the parish cemetery of All Saints by the Castle (n = 84), the Augustinian friary (n = 75), and the cemetery of the Hospital of St John the Evangelist (n = 155) were analyzed. METHODS: Macroscopic examination a…
The comparison and application of silicone casting material for trauma analysis on well preserved archaeological skeletal remains
A new method for identifying and differentiating human dissection and autopsy in archaeological human skeletal remains
Biocultural Perspectives of Infancy, Childhood and Adolescence in the Past
International audience
Employing radiography (X‐rays) to localize lesions in human skeletal remains from past populations to allow accurate biopsy, using examples of cancer metastases
Clinical research into biomolecules from infectious diseases and cancers has advanced rapidly in recent years, with two key areas being DNA analysis and proteomics. If we wish to understand important diseases and their associated biomolecules in past populations, techniques are required that will allow accurate biopsy of lesions in excavated human skeletal remains. While locating lesions visible on the surface of a bone is simple, many lesions su…
The comparison and application of silicone casting material for trauma analysis on well preserved archaeological skeletal remains
A new method for identifying and differentiating human dissection and autopsy in archaeological human skeletal remains
Equality after Death
Since the medieval period, anatomical dissection has been considered a cornerstone of medical education. In recent decades, several archaeological excavations have uncovered evidence of this practice in the form of tool marks on human skeletal remains. At the majority of sites where dissected individuals were uncovered, remains of men considerably outnumbered those of women. The aim of this research is to investigate how postmortem treatment of m…
Osteobiography
What is osteobiography good for? The last generation of archaeologists fought to overcome the traditional assumption that archaeology is merely ancillary to history, a substitute to be used when written sources are defective; it is now widely acknowledged that material histories and textual histories tell equally valid and complementary stories about the past. Yet the traditional assumption hangs on implicitly in biography: osteobiography is used…
Skeletal evidence for violent trauma from the bronze age Qijia culture (2,300-1,500 BCE), Gansu Province, China
This research explores how social and environmental factors may have contributed to conflict during the early Bronze Age in Northwest China by analyzing violent trauma on human skeletal remains from a cemetery of the Qijia culture (2300-1500 BCE). The Qijia culture existed during a period of dramatic social, technological, and environmental change, though minimal research has been conducted on how these factors may have contributed to violence wi…
A probable case of multiple myeloma from Bronze Age China
OBJECTIVE: Paleopathological evidence of cancer from past populations is rare, especially outside of Europe and North Africa. This study expands upon the current temporal and spatial distribution of cancer by presenting a probable case of multiple myeloma from Bronze Age China. MATERIAL: The human skeletal remains of an adult male from the Qijia culture horizon (1750-1400 BCE) of the Bronze Age cemetery of Mogou (), located in Gansu Province, Nor…
Fancy shoes and painful feet
OBJECTIVE: Hallux valgus, the lateral deviation of the great toe, can result in poor balance, impaired mobility and is an independent risk factor for falls. This research aims to compare the prevalence of hallux valgus in subpopulations of medieval Cambridge, England, and to examine the relationship between hallux valgus and fractures to examine the impact of impaired mobility and poor balance caused by this condition. MATERIALS: 177 adult indivi…
The greatest health problem of the Middle Ages? Estimating the burden of disease in medieval England
Gout and ‘Podagra’ in medieval Cambridge, England
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence rate of gout and to explore the social factors that contributed to its development in the various sub-populations in medieval Cambridge. MATERIALS: 177 adult individuals from four medieval cemeteries located in and around Cambridge, UK. METHODS: Lesions were assessed macroscopically and radiographically. Elements with lytic lesions were described and imaged using micro-computed tomography (μCT) to determine t…
Medieval injuries
OBJECTIVE: To explore how medieval living conditions, occupation, and an individual's role within society impacted their risk of skeletal trauma. MATERIALS: The skeletal remains of 314 individuals from medieval Cambridge that were buried in the parish cemetery of All Saints by the Castle (n = 84), the Augustinian friary (n = 75), and the cemetery of the Hospital of St John the Evangelist (n = 155) were analyzed. METHODS: Macroscopic examination a…
The Mogou Bioarchaeology Project
Bioarchaeological research provides unique insights on human adaptation, diet, lifestyle and epidemiology. The Mogou Bioarchaeology Project explores how health was affected by the Bronze Age transition in north-west China. Preliminary results reveal that the inhabitants experienced substantial physiological stress, infectious disease and lethal trauma
Assessing the relative benefits of imaging with plain radiographs and microCT scanning to diagnose cancer in past populations
Intestinal parasite infection in the Augustinian friars and general population of medieval Cambridge, UK
OBJECTIVE: To investigate how lifestyle may have impacted the risk of contracting intestinal parasites in medieval England . Regular clergy (such as those living in monasteries) and the lay population form interesting groups for comparison as diet and lifestyle varied significantly. Monasteries were built with latrine blocks and hand washing facilities, unlike houses of the poor. MATERIALS: Sediment samples from the pelvis, along with control sam…
Employing radiography (X‐rays) to localize lesions in human skeletal remains from past populations to allow accurate biopsy, using examples of cancer metastases
Clinical research into biomolecules from infectious diseases and cancers has advanced rapidly in recent years, with two key areas being DNA analysis and proteomics. If we wish to understand important diseases and their associated biomolecules in past populations, techniques are required that will allow accurate biopsy of lesions in excavated human skeletal remains. While locating lesions visible on the surface of a bone is simple, many lesions su…
Violence in Hasmonean Judea
During a salvage excavation conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority, a mass grave containing the skeletal remains from 124 individuals, many with evidence of weapon injuries, was discovered in a water cistern outside the Old City of Jerusalem. Radiocarbon dates derived from human bone and the date of the material finds suggest the skeletal remains date to the end of the 2nd century or the beginning of the 1st century BCE. The aim of this re…
Caring for the injured
OBJECTIVE: To combine paleopathological and biomechanical analysis to reconstruct the impact that a severe skeletal injury had on an individual's ability to function and participate in medieval society. MATERIALS: Three medieval individuals from Cambridge, England with ante-mortem fractures to the lower limb were analyzed. METHODS: Plain X-rays were used to determine the degree of malunion, rotation and overlap of each fracture. Cortical bone arc…
Pathways to the medieval hospital
Medieval hospitals were founded to provide charity, but poverty and infirmity were broad and socially determined categories and little is known about the residents of these institutions and the pathways that led them there. Combining skeletal, isotopic and genetic data, the authors weave a collective biography of individuals buried at the Hospital of St John the Evangelist, Cambridge. By starting with the physical remains, rather than historical …
Investigating the association between intestinal parasite infection and cribra orbitalia in the medieval population of Cambridge, UK
OBJECTIVE: Cribra orbitalia is believed to be a skeletal indicator of chronic anaemia, scurvy, rickets or related metabolic diseases. It has been suggested that it may be used as a proxy indicator for intestinal parasite infection, as parasites often cause anaemia today. Our aim is to investigate this association in the medieval population of Cambridge, UK. MATERIALS: Individuals excavated from the cemeteries of the Augustinian friary and All Sai…
Oral health and nonmolar dental attrition in the Siwa‐period individuals from the Bronze Age Mogou cemetery, Northwest China
Dental data can reveal evidence for a past population's oral health, nutrition, and certain cultural activities. This study aims to explore oral health and dental attrition during the late Bronze Age in order to explore health outcomes in different subgroups as well as aspects of foodways and changes in subsistence strategies during the second millennium BCE in northwest China. To do this, the skeletal remains of adult individuals associated with…
Biocultural Perspectives of Infancy, Childhood and Adolescence in the Past
International audience
Giving and taking
The ethics of destructive sampling of human remains has become a critical debate, in part centred on developing minimally invasive techniques that simultaneously maximize information yield. While widely adopted best-practice guidelines have been developed, the proliferation of diverse analytical techniques results in incremental damage that compounds across studies, necessitating coordinated protocols to minimize cumulative destructive impact. He…
Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (16 works) · Medicine (15 works) · Archaeology (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Geography (9 works) · History (9 works) · Paleopathology and ancient diseases (8 works) · Pathology (7 works) · Demography (6 works) · Forensic and Genetic Research (6 works)