<p>The Old Burial Ground of the Royal Hospital Greenwich (1749-1857) provided the resting place for a very Motley crew - the battered and worn out veterans of the Royal Navy of the Georgian period. Recent excavations in the cemetary by Oxford Archaeology revealed the coffined burials of over a hundred Greenwich Pensioners (the equivalent of the Chelsea Pensioners), who had ended their long and colourful lives at the Hospital. These were sailors and mariners that sailed and fought in Britain's numerous wars of the 18th century, many seeing action at such famous engagements as the Glorious First of June, Copenhagen, the Nile, and Trafalgar. The hazards and physical demands of their lives are clearly reflected in their skeletons, with fractures, infections, amputations, joint disease and scurvy being common. Osteological findings are interpreted in the light of rich documentary sources on the social history of the lowerdeck of Nelson's Navy, and form an invaluable alternative data set in reconstructing the extraordinary lives of these 'picked and brine pickled survivors'.</p>

Safe Moor'd in Greenwich Tier: A Study of the Skeletons of Royal Navy Sailors and Marines excavated at the Royal Hospital Greenwich (Oxford Archaeology Monograph, 5)

Politics & Social Sciences

Boyle, Angela

Boston, Ceridwen

Witkin, Annsofie

Wilkinson, David R. P.

Archaeology

Oxford Archaeology

<p>Archaeological investigations, undertaken as part of a programme to restore St George's Church, Bloomsbury, to its original Hawksmoor splendour, involved the removal of 871 triple lead-lined coffins from within the crypt and monitoring works within the churchyard. The elaborate named coffins of upper middle class parishioners provided a valuable opportunity to greatly develop the new field of post-medieval coffin analysis, and to integrate historical, archaeological and osteological data in order to build a vivid picture of this population. Over 90% of coffins were named, which allowed a rare opportunity to blind test osteological methods on 72 skeletons, whilst analysis of documentary and osteological evidence has challenged some long-held beliefs in post-medieval burial archaeology. Disease patterns in the St George's assemblage were influenced by the longevity and affluence of this population, factors that also underlay the necessity for elaborate and expensive dental treatment, including very early examples of fillings, filing and dentures.</p>

'In the Vaults Beneath': Archaeological Recording at St George's Church, Bloomsbury (Oxford Archaeology Monograph)

History

Gill, John

Boyle, A.

Europe

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