Death and Disability: The Social Perception of Disability through the Lens of Burial Treatment in Late Roman and Early Medieval Britain

This thesis analysed the extent to which physically impaired individuals are given deviant burial treatment in death in the late Roman and early medieval periods in central and southern Britain. Until recently, disability has been overlooked in archaeological research, and modern biases have been unfairly projected on the past. This thesis made use of a literature review of excavation reports as well as osteological analyses to gain an understanding of the different ways individuals with physical impairments were treated after death, using five criteria by which to measure normative and non-normative practices: the treatment of the body, the type of internment, the funerary goods, the grave location and alignment, and the position of the body. Twelve graves containing impaired people were analysed specifically, allowing a comparison to be made between normative and deviant customs, and between these practices and those applied to these specific burials. This analysis revealed...Show moreThis thesis analysed the extent to which physically impaired individuals are given deviant burial treatment in death in the late Roman and early medieval periods in central and southern Britain. Until recently, disability has been overlooked in archaeological research, and modern biases have been unfairly projected on the past. This thesis made use of a literature review of excavation reports as well as osteological analyses to gain an understanding of the different ways individuals with physical impairments were treated after death, using five criteria by which to measure normative and non-normative practices: the treatment of the body, the type of internment, the funerary goods, the grave location and alignment, and the position of the body. Twelve graves containing impaired people were analysed specifically, allowing a comparison to be made between normative and deviant customs, and between these practices and those applied to these specific burials. This analysis revealed variability in treatment, and while deviancy was observed, this was not explicitly linked to negative attitudes towards disability. Furthermore, while there were differences between the two periods, considerable continuity in traditions could also be observed.Show less

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Death and Disability: The Social Perception of Disability through the Lens of Burial Treatment in Late Roman and Early Medieval Britain