title: Poundbury Camp in Context-a new Perspective on the Lives of Children from urban and rural Roman England.
abstract: The current understanding of child morbidity in Roman England is dominated by studies of single sites/regions. Much of the data are derived from third to fifth century AD Poundbury Camp, Dorchester, Dorset, considered an unusual site due to high levels of non-adult morbidity. There is little understanding of children in rural areas, and whether Poundbury Camp was representative of Romano-British childhood.
  
  
  
  The study provides the first large scale analysis of child health in urban and rural Roman England, adding to the previously published intra-site analysis of non-adult paleopathology at Poundbury Camp. Age-at-death and pathology prevalence rates were reassessed for 953 non-adults (0-17 years) from five major urban, six minor urban, and four rural sites (first to fifth century AD). The data were compared to the results from 364 non-adults from Poundbury Camp.
  
  
  
  Rural sites demonstrated higher levels of infant burials, and greater prevalence of cribra orbitalia in the 1.1-2.5 year (TPR 64.3%), and 6.6-10.5 year cohorts (TPR 66.7%). Endocranial lesions were more frequent in the minor urban sample (TPR 15.9%). Three new cases of tuberculosis were identified in urban contexts. Vitamin D deficiency was most prevalent at Poundbury Camp (CPR 18.8%), vitamin C deficiency was identified more frequently in rural settlements (CPR 5.9%).
  
  
  
  The Poundbury Camp data on morbidity and mortality are not representative of patterns in Roman England and other major urban sites. Rural children suffered from a distinct set of pathologies described as diseases of deprivation, prompting reconsideration of how Romano-British land management affected those at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology, School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 6AB, UK.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rohnbogner
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology, School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 6AB, UK.
authors.forename: Mary Elizabeth
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Lewis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D000067576:Child Health / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000266:history*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004739:England; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D010164:Paleopathology; D012424:Rural Population / Q000266:history*; D012614:Scurvy; D014376:Tuberculosis; D014505:Urban Population / Q000266:history*; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency
keywords: Romanization; inequality; metabolic disease; migration; stress; thalassemia; tuberculosis