Who cares?: A thesis on the (osteo)archaeological evidence of care during the Dutch post-medieval period

Prior to the nineteenth century, disability studies generated a diverse body of work, usually evoking potentially naive or blanketing generalizations about the positions of disabled people throughout history. To counter the prevailing narrative of disability as an individual medical illness or weakness, this thesis uses an approach that recognizes the diverse and complex character of disability as ingrained in culture and power relations. The skeletal collection of Middenbeemster (The Netherlands) was examined by using Tilley's (2021) 'The Bioarchaeology of Care Methodology’. Different skeletal indicators of disablement were examined to infer evidence of care. As a result, using this approach for three individuals, this thesis has qualitatively determined what this care likely involved in detail. The Index of Care has contributed to the development of plausible and possible narratives of their experiences. It revealed valuable information about identities, caregiver-recipient...Show morePrior to the nineteenth century, disability studies generated a diverse body of work, usually evoking potentially naive or blanketing generalizations about the positions of disabled people throughout history. To counter the prevailing narrative of disability as an individual medical illness or weakness, this thesis uses an approach that recognizes the diverse and complex character of disability as ingrained in culture and power relations. The skeletal collection of Middenbeemster (The Netherlands) was examined by using Tilley's (2021) 'The Bioarchaeology of Care Methodology’. Different skeletal indicators of disablement were examined to infer evidence of care. As a result, using this approach for three individuals, this thesis has qualitatively determined what this care likely involved in detail. The Index of Care has contributed to the development of plausible and possible narratives of their experiences. It revealed valuable information about identities, caregiver-recipient dynamics, and the Middenbeemster community within their context. The three individuals coped with a visible disability, and the community would know they coped with a disability just by looking at them. Nevertheless, each of them was buried like any other individual of the Middenbeemster community, without evidence of selection or segregation. During this post-medieval period, these disabled adults were cared for in the privacy of the home by close relatives. They were assigned a social identity with (untraditional) positions and modified or decreased tasks as required to accommodate them. With reduced self-sufficiency and mobility, their survival indicates the community's tolerance and understanding of disability to a certain extent and active care provision within small family groups. Carrying such demands required considerable commitment, organization, and flexibility. The fact that the disabled survived for years is evidence of the value of strong family ties, which were perhaps motivated by their faith, with prevailing ideals of almsgiving. Not every physically challenged person in Middenbeemster required special care; some, like Sara/0945, were clearly able to have quite normal lives and potentially contribute to the family's finances. In this respect, the research contributes to a deeper knowledge of past viewpoints, attitudes, and practices within the Dutch and Middenbeemster communities about health and disease.Show less

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Who cares? A thesis on the (osteo)archaeological evidence of care during the Dutch post-medieval period