Delegates from around the world have been gathering at the University of Bradford to get hands-on experience of the diseases of the past, revealing the secrets of the dead in the process.The 5th Biennial Short Course in Human Skeletal Palaeopathology is being held at the University's Department of Archaeological Sciences from August 20 to 31.
Participants are learning the basics of identifying a range of diseases from skeletons, including leprosy, TB, dental disease and metabolic diseases such as anemia and scurvy.
They have the opportunity to examine skeletons of people from Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Britain who, in life, suffered from a variety of conditions from everyday ailments to those which were life-threatening.
The course is being coordinated by Dr. Christopher Knusel from the University's Department of Archaeological Sciences; Professor Don Ortner from the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., and Dr. Charlotte Roberts from Durham University.
Dr. Knusel said, "The course provides a broad overview of disease in the past. It provides the basics of ossified tissue biology as applied to the identification, diagnosis and prevalence of skeletal disease and its evolutionary interaction with human populations from the prehistoric past to the present.
"All categories of skeletal disease will be discussed, and participants will gain a valuable opportunity to discuss the major issues in health and disease in past human populations."
The intensive short course provides lectures and laboratory sessions on theoretical, methodological and diagnostic issues in the study of skeletal palaeopathology by a range of international experts.
Two hands-on sessions in which participants examine human skeletal remains run every day and cover a variety of diseases.
[Contact: Rachael Ellis]
23-Aug-2001
