A Migration Age Anglo-Saxon Leper

Paleomicrobiology and isotopic analysis has the ability to completely change what we know of past infectious diseases. A study published this month on a fifth century Anglo-Saxon skeleton is one of the most complete I have read.

Lesions on skeletons found at Great Chesterfield in Essex, England, suggested possible leprosy. To confirm this diagnosis, they chose one skeleton that is nearly complete and in good shape for further analysis.

Grave GC86 from Great Chesterford, excavated in a rescue archaeology operation in 1953-4. (Inskip et al, 2015)

The skeleton (GC96) shown to the right is of a 25 to 35-year-old male buried in modestly furnished grave in an area of the cemetery with other visibly disabled people. Radiocarbon dating places these remains at AD 415-545, and thus Migration Age for the Anglo-Saxons. The Great Chesterford cemetery is located roughly in an approximate border area between the kingdom of the East Saxons and East Angles at the site of a ford of the River Cam (or Granta) downriver from Cambridge. He was buried with a slender knife secured by a belt with an oval buckle. Over his left shoulder, a spear and a conical ferrule were found.  Lesions consistent with lepromatous leprosy were found on the lower legs with extensive remodeling of the right foot. A bronze shoelace tag found near the right foot suggests the diseased foot covered with a shoe.  Given the lesions found on the foot and lower legs, the ferrule may have capped a walking staff. His facial bones were missing losing a common, distinctive site of leprosy lesions. The disorganized and rough appearance of new bone growth suggest that the lesion was active at the time of death.

Profile of the mycolic acids extracted from the indicated bones. (Inskip et al, 2015)

Selections of bone were taken and powdered to extract aDNA and for lipid analysis. Mycobacterium species that cause leprosy and tuberculosis have distinctive lipid profiles that have been successfully extracted and identified by archaeological remains in the past. Their analysis of lipids from the bones confirmed the presence of Mycobacterium leprae and excluded the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.  The aDNA analysis confirmed identified the presence of Mycobacterium leprae strain 3I-1, that has been previously found in later medieval England, Denmark and Sweden. Inskip et al (2015) suggest a possible Scandinavian origin for the strain.  The VNTR analysis used to produce ‘genetic fingerprints’ shows that this strain of M. leprae is unique among other ancient isolates and should be useful in the comparative analysis of other early remains. Other remains in the same cemetery have similar lesions and will be investigated in the future.

Isotopic analysis of his tooth enamel provide an indication of childhood location and adult nutrition. Carbon analysis showed a diet of primarily C3 plants, consistent with southern Britain. Analysis of oxygen and strontium isotopes suggest he did not spend his childhood in the area of Great Chesterford.

The combination of the two isotopes gives his best probable origin to be between north-central France and the north-central Germany, in other words, the region of the Anglo-Saxon homeland. A continental origin coupled with the dating range between 415 and 545 suggests that he was part of the migration of the peoples who later called themselves Anglo-Saxons. He was likely no more Scandinavian than any of the other migration era ‘English’. This is further supported by a relatively high level of leprosy (by osteological analysis) in medieval city of Schleswig, the very area where the Angles are most specifically located. Further analysis of migration era remains should refine the origins of this strain of leprosy and determine its frequency.

Reference:

Inskip, S. A., Taylor, G. M., Zakrzewski, S. R., Mays, S. A., Pike, A. W. G., Llewellyn, G., et al. (2015). Osteological, Biomolecular and Geochemical Examination of an Early Anglo-Saxon Case of Lepromatous Leprosy. PLoS ONE, 10(5), e0124282. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0124282.s001

Kristina Killgrove, 14 May 2015 “Earliest Case of Leprosy in Britain reveals Scandinavian Origins of the Disease”, Forbes.com

SIMON MAYS, SONIA R. ZAKRZEWSKI, SARAH A. INSKIP, STEPHANIE WRIGHT and JOANNA R. SOFAER. (2015) Anglo-Saxon concepts of dis/ability: placing disease at Great Chesterford in its wider context. Poster at The 84th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.