CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND—According to a report in The Guardian, John Robb of Cambridge University and his colleagues analyzed the skeletal remains of more than 400 adults and children who had been buried in unmarked graves on the grounds of Cambridge’s charity hospital of St. John the Evangelist between A.D. 1200 and 1500. The burials were uncovered during an excavation in 2010. The resulting data, including information obtained through DNA and isotope analysis, offered a glimpse into the lives, health, and appearance of the individuals. The study determined that some of the patients had perhaps once been prosperous, but fell on hard times, while others had endured lifetimes of poor diets and heavy labor. The skeletons of 10 men whose bones show no signs of such heavy labor are thought to have been university scholars. “The people in the hospital weren’t purely an underclass, there were different way people arrived there,” Robb said. “Only a limited number of people could go into the hospital and there must have been many more who might have deserved help,” he explained. The researchers suggest that the decisions about which people were admitted to the hospital for treatment may have been based upon their emotional appeal to potential donors. To read about a medieval monastery discovered beneath Cambridge University property, go to "Common Ground."
