Archaeologists in Sweden have combined historical documents, digital excavation records, and cutting-edge 3D modelling to tell the story of what it may have been like to live with a disability in the Middle Ages.
The study, published in Open Archaeology, analyzes the skeleton of a man in his thirties with a severe knee injury. By using an interdisciplinary approach, researchers were able to get a more accurate picture of the medical and cultural treatment of medieval disabled people.
“Deducing social norms regarding physical impairment and disability from religious and legal texts is difficult because it presents an idealized perspective,” said Blair Nolan of Lund University in a press release. “We can enrich our understanding of disability and identity through detailed osteological and archaeological analysis.”
Read More: What the Crypts of the Ca’ Granda Hospital Can Tell Us About 17th-Century Medicine
This is the first time that an interdisciplinary approach to ...
