This research uses the disease of osteoarthritis in order to investigate the activity patterns of a rural and an urban environment in the Netherlands during the post-medieval period. It produced...Show moreThis research uses the disease of osteoarthritis in order to investigate the activity patterns of a rural and an urban environment in the Netherlands during the post-medieval period. It produced two datasets with matching criteria obtained from the skeletal assemblages of the heavily researched rural site of Middenbeemster and the relatively new urban site of Arnhem. Historical literature is combined with osteoarthritis prevalence give a more clear and detailed image of past activity patterns. This literature has provided this research with the knowledge that Middenbeemster was a dairy farming community, while Arnhem was a city with a focus on the beer brewing industry. Different markers on the bones associated with osteoarthritis resulted in differences in osteoarthritis prevalence. This differences were not only investigated within the environments but also between the environments. In the urban environment a sexual division of labour was seen, while in the rural environment men and women performed similar strenuous activities. Besides this, it is evident that industrial city life was more strenuous on the bodies of individuals than farming life was during the post-medieval period in the Netherlands.Show less
