S2 Appendix -

Child labour is the most common form of child abuse in the world today, with almost half of child workers employed in hazardous industries. The large-scale employment of children during the rapid industrialisation of the late 18th and early 19th centuries in England is well documented. During this period, the removal of pauper children from workhouses in cities to work as apprentices in rural mills in the North of England was commonplace. Whilst the experiences of some of these children have been recorded historically, this study provides the first direct evidence of their lives through bioarchaeological analysis. The excavation of a rural churchyard cemetery in the village of Fewston, North Yorkshire, yielded the skeletal remains of 154 individuals, including an unusually large proportion of children aged between 8 to 20 years. A multi-method approach was undertaken, including osteological and palaeopathological examination, stable isotope and amelogenin peptide analysis. The bioarchaeological results were integrated with historical data regarding a local textile mill in operation during the 18th-19th centuries. The results for the children were compared to those obtained from contemporaneous individuals of known identity (from coffin plates) of comparable date. Most of the children exhibited distinctive ‘non-local’ isotope signatures and a diet low in animal protein when compared to the named local individuals. These children also showed severe growth delays and pathological lesions indicative of early life adversity, as well as respiratory disease, which is a known occupational hazard of mill work. This study has provided unique insights into the harrowing lives of these children; born into poverty and forced to work long hours in dangerous conditions. This analysis provides a stark testimony of the impacts of industrial labour on the health, growth and mortality risk of children, with implications for the present as well as our understanding of the past.童工是当今全球最普遍的儿童虐待形式，近半数童工受雇于高危行业。 18世纪末至19世纪初英国快速工业化时期，童工的大规模雇佣已有充分的文献记载。 彼时，城市济贫院中的贫困儿童被送往英格兰北部乡村磨坊充当学徒的现象极为普遍。 尽管部分这类儿童的经历已有历史记录，但本研究首次通过生物考古学（bioarchaeological）分析，为他们的生活提供了直接实证。 对英格兰北约克郡菲斯顿村一处乡村教堂墓地公墓的发掘，出土了154具个体的骨骼遗骸，其中8至20岁儿童的占比异乎寻常地高。 本研究采用多方法研究路径，涵盖骨学（osteological）与古病理学（palaeopathological）检测、稳定同位素（stable isotope）及釉原蛋白肽（amelogenin peptide）分析。 研究将生物考古学分析结果与18至19世纪当地运营的纺织厂的历史资料相结合，并将这批儿童的分析结果与同期、身份可考（来自棺牌记录）的个体的结果进行了对比。 与有记录的本地个体相比，绝大多数儿童呈现出显著的“非本地”同位素特征，且动物蛋白摄入水平较低。 这些儿童还表现出严重的生长迟缓与反映早年逆境的病理损伤，同时患有呼吸道疾病——这是磨坊工作已知的职业危害。 本研究为这些儿童的悲惨人生提供了独特视角：他们生于贫困，被迫在危险环境中长期劳作。 本分析清晰揭示了工业劳动对儿童健康、生长发育与死亡风险的影响，这一发现不仅有助于我们理解历史，亦对当下具有启示意义。