Even though today’s archeology is usually investing its resources into finding out more about the rich people’s lives, this unique team at Cambridge University’s Division of Archeology played a different game. Specialists at the Dundee’s Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification decided to focus on how the lower class used to live.
The main point of this project called “After the plague: health and history in medieval Cambridge” is to discover how poor people worked, lived and even looked in the past. One of their most ambitious projects is facial reconstruction, which takes a bunch of techniques, time and study.
Their first ‘client’ was a 13th-century lower class worker whose skeleton was found buried at the Old Divinity School of St. John’s College in Cambridge, England.
“He was just slightly over 40 years old when he died. His skeleton showed signs of considerable wear-and-tear, so he likely lived a tough and hard working life. His tooth enamel stopped growing during two occasions in his youth, suggesting he likely lived through bouts of famine or sickness when he was young.”
Is it just me, or does this man really look very old for his age?