The Industrial Revolution overturned centuries of English agrarian life, but the rapid societal transformation came at steep costs to the laborers themselves. Miserable working conditions, poor housing, and pollution all contributed to health problems among factory employees as well as their families. Meanwhile, children faced countless diseases like rickets, which prevents developing skeletons from adequately mineralizing.
However, a recent investigation into a 19th century Quaker cemetery in northeast England indicates the Industrial Revolution wasn’t the sole culprit behind this rickets endemic. After analyzing teeth from some of the graveyard’s inhabitants, archaeologists now believe that reduced exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays likely exacerbated vitamin D deficiencies during the waning years of the Little Ice Age. The dental evidence—along with the Quakers’ corroborating records—is presented in a study published today in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.
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