Interpersonal violence and fracture patterns in 18th and 19th century London.

Abstract

Violent behaviour can be seen all over the world and across time; it is also intrinsically linked to culture. As such, the analysis of skeletal material presents excellent physical evidence of violent occurrences within communities. The current thesis looks to understand the possible presence of fracture patterns and interpersonal violence in London during the 18th and 19th centuries by analysing the fracture patterns observed on six skeletal collections from the geographical area and characterised by various social and economic contexts. The contextualisation of each burial ground proved to be imperative to the research. The statistical results revealed that grouping collections together based on their socioeconomic status does not describe nor explain the fracture patterns seen in the collections considering that some did not emulate the characterisation implemented upon them by the media or City officials at the time. It also was found that the patrilineal society and the subsequent sexual division of labour had a profound effect on the results especially when comparing the prevalence of fractures between men and women. Therefore, this thesis provides a comprehensive overview of fracture patterns and the presence of interpersonal violence in regards to the different lifestyles and socioeconomic contexts found in London during the 18th and 19th centuries and how such behaviour affected the individuals’ daily lives.