Comparative Investigations of Population Health in Urban Military and Non-Military Communities of Roman Britain

This research compiles and compares the biological health profiles of three urban populations at Venta Belgarum (Winchester), Londinium (London), and Eboracum (York) as a means for assessing health and status differences between military and non-military urban populations in Roman Britain. Data concerning a total of 1,334 individuals representing all ages and both sexes were analyzed between the three cemetery samples. Estimations of mean stature, rates of periosteal reaction, porotic hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia, linear enamel hypoplasias, and trauma are compared here in an effort to discuss relative health, status, and inequality within the wider populations of urban non-military communities ( Venta Belgarum ) and their urban military counterparts ( Londinium and Eboracum ). The discussion here hopes to highlight skeletal evidence concerning the prevalence of inequality and possible structural violence within urban sites as connected to the constant presence of military units, and the cultural aspects and access to resources therein.