| Abstract: |
Excavations by York Archaeological Trust to the north-east of the city walls in 1982-83 uncovered the remains of a cemetery. Historical sources confirmed it as that of the Jewish community and that it was first used between 1177 and 1230, remaining in use until their expulsion from England in 1290. Approximately half the cemetery was investigated, and the remains of nearly 500 individuals were recovered for anthropological analysis. The results are of wide-ranging importance since they represent the only detailed study of a medieval Jewish population from England.The individual graves rarely intercut, making it impossible to provide a relative chronology for the bulk of the burials. The scale of excavations, however, did enable studies to be made of the distribution of the burials according to age and sex, a trend surface analysis of burial alignment, and an estimation of the size of the medieval population of York. Evidence was found for a remarkably uniform burial rite, and information was gained on the laying out, burial positions, and the use of coffins. this information was compared with what is known of Jewish burial practices from historical sources and excavations elsewhere in Europe. Further comparisons were made with contemporaneous Christian sites within York to assess the impact of the two religions upon burial practice.Because of the need for rapid reburial of the human remains, there was insufficient time available to record all the skeletal characteristics fully, but a great deal of information was obtained. An indication is given of the dental health of the population with a detailed study of dental calculus, and of the pathological changes in the bones caused by congenital abnormalities, injuries, and disease. An indication of surgical practice is evidenced by the attempted treatment of a cranial injury. Multivariate analyses were carried out using the available cranial measurements to compare the material from Jewbury with that from the Christian cemetery of St-Helen-on-the-Walls, York, as a test for genetic distinctiveness between the two. The results showed that there was no marked dissimilarity, but individuals were notable. A wider comparison of metric and non-metric cranial and post-cranial traits recorded at Jewbury and other cemeteries in York produced similar results. The volume of recorded evidence and resulting analytical data acknowledge the site's paramount archaeological and historical importance.Other contributions include `Circumstances of excavation and research' by P V Addyman (298-300), `Historical survey' by S Rees Jones (301-13), and `The 18th century to the present' by D M Palliser (313-16). Also, `Conservation of the coffin fittings' by Erica Paterson (394-401), and `The coffins and their fittings' by Patrick Ottaway (401-23) which includes an additional observation on the subject from Erica Paterson (403). There follows a section on the population, beginning with `Materials and methods' (424-7), and `Demography and variation' (427-49) both by Gillian Stroud. `Pathology' by D R Brothwell & S Browne (457-94) and`Dental pathology' by P Watson (495-507) are followed by `Study of dental calculus' by K M Dobney~(507-21). `The distinctiveness of the Jewbury population' by Gillian Stroud (523-6) and the `Conclusion' by P V Addyman (539-40) are followed by a `Catalogue of skeletons' (541-52), details of the `Dental protocol' (553), `Catalogue of finds' (554-61), and `Biological analyses of deposits' by A R Hall, J B Carrott, H K Kenward & J E Richardson (562-4). Au & IH |
