Osteoarchaeology is a rich field for reconstructing past lives in that it can provide details on sex, age-at-death, stature, and pathology in conjunction with the cultural, social, and economic aspects of the person's environment and burial conditions. While osteoarchaeological research is common in the Low Countries, many of the studies done on the excellent skeletal collections remain unpublished and therefore unavailable to a larger audience.

Following on the Urban Graveyards volumes, Osteoarchaeology in historical context contributes to the dissemination of cemetery research in the Low Countries. Several important skeletal collections are examined in their historical contexts to better understand past living and dying. Osteoarchaeological data are combined with information on burial location, orientation, and grave goods. In doing so, this volume expands our knowledge of contextual cemetery research in the Low Countries and serves as a starting point for comparative research.


Contents:

Immigrants in Vlaardingen. Archaeological research at a cemetery dated c 1000-1050
Tim de Ridder

Digging up the dead in Eindhoven: The choir and churchyard of St. Catharine's, 1200-1850
Nico Arts

The monastic cemetery of the Broederenkerk in Zutphen: For monks only?
Steffen Baetsen & Michel Groothedde

In sickness and in health: An archaeological and osteoarchaeological analysis of St. Gertrude's infirmary in Kampen (1382-c. 1611)
Rachel Schats & Michael Klomp

Diversity in death: skeletal evidence of burial preferences in a late to post-medieval convent in Aalst (Belgium)
Jessica L.A Palmer

Taking sides: an osteoarchaeological analysis of human skeletal remains from the south and north sides of St. Andrew's Church (Andreaskerk) in Hattem, the Netherlands.
Barbara Veselka & Michael Klomp

The cursed side: A folk belief evidenced by documentary records in 's-Hertogenbosch (1782-1858)
Roos van Oosten

Methods of ageing and sexing human dry bone put to the test Looking back on the 1987-1988 excavations in the Broerenkerk in Zwolle
Nico Aten & Hemmy Clevis