Een fysisch anthropologisch onderzoek van begravenen bij het Minderbroedersklooster te Dordrecht, circa 1275-1572 AD

<p>Remains of 316 burials that were excavated from the Late Medieval cemetery of the Franciscan Friary at Dordrecht (Province of South Holland) have been analysed.The buried persons were mainly citizens who had been interred here between c. 1275 and 1572 AD. At that time, Dordrecht was the prosperous main commercial centre of the County of Holland in the western part of the Low Countries. From the demographical and paleopathological results the assumption seems to be reasonable that this group of citizens had a life expectancy which was not unusual for that period.<br>The age at death distribution shows a slight lack of males in the 30-40 years interval, which might be the result of the manyfold compulsory drafts for the armed forces of the Count of Holland and/or of commerce related burials of men abroad. From the frequencies of paleopathological changes it can be concluded that the general health status was reasonable and typical for an urban population.There were no unusual exposures to traumas, infections, dietary deficiencies, etc. From the calculated stature of the men, being a parameter of socio-economic status, and from the relative high frequency of DISH one may conclude that the population was even 'well-off' compared to Dutch citizens of the 17th and 18th centuries.</p>