Preface

Summary

I entered palaeopathology via a very circuitous route, having previously had a background in anatomy, toxicology and epidemiology, although an interest in pathology was always present, having been greatly stimulated by the subject during my time as a medical student. My first hands-on experience with bones, however, was in collecting specimens for lead analysis when I was working at the University of Birmingham. We undertook the analysis of many hundreds of specimens until it became clear that the variation in lead levels that we were finding owed much more to contamination from the soil than to exposure during life, and I formed the view that it would be more profitable to see what information could be obtained from the bones themselves. When I moved to London to work at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), I became very active in examining skeletal assemblages and some mummified material, and I had the good fortune to become acquainted with Don Brothwell at the Institute of Archaeology, which was just a few minutes walk around the corner from the LSHTM. He not only kindly gave me a corner of a desk, but invited me to take part in the teaching of the undergraduates and post-graduates at the Institute. I have had the great pleasure of teaching at the Institute now for many years, and this book is based very largely on the course of lectures in palaeopathology that I give to those taking the master's courses.