George!

Meet George...!

I have got to know George very well over the past month. He is one of the three skeletons that me and my group have had to do a project on. Basically we have to produce a near-to-professional-project as we can on chosen skeletons. The skeletons are from the Great Chesterford collection which is from a Medieval site in Essex.

For each of the three skeletons we have to age, sex, take measurements, note any pathology, and take note of all the skeletal elements. We also have a female (Britney) and a baby to look at (the baby is more than likely less than 1 year old, so it has been very sad looking at his tiny bones, I gave him the name Issac).

Yes I know it is really odd to call the skeletons names, and I know its strange to make them human. But to me, the skeletons I look at are more than just a number in a skeletal report, they were once a living human being, and by naming the skeletons, I like to think I bring them back to life, and honour their life by finding as much as I can about them!

George is my favourite skeleton, and I feel strangely attached to him! Looking at his skull, he seems a sad sort of character, and looks like he has had a hard life. We obviously found out he was male; he was around late 30’s when he died and from looking at the pathology, we think he had suffered from Tuberculosis. We are not sure what he died from yet, but more than likely it was the tuberculosis infection. Poor, old George :o(

When we first got told about this project, it looked very daunting and difficult to do. But now, it doesn’t even faze me. We have to do a weekly test on human bone, where we have to identify 20 bone fragments (30 seconds for each fragment), and say what element they are and also say what side of the body they are from. We have now had 9 tests, and they have progressively got harder and the fragments smaller and more difficult. However, this has made me an expert on human bones and I now know my ulna from my capitate and my navicular from my zygomatic!

And I owe alot to George, helping me to learn the elements...thanks George!!