05/12/2023
On this International Day Of Persons With Disabilities ( ) we are sharing a glimpse into our colleague, Jess White’s, PhD research which focuses on the biomechanics of physically impaired individuals in medieval Ireland.
Jess studied individuals from two IAC Archaeology excavations in Ballyhanna, Co. Donegal and Ranelagh, Co. Roscommon under the supervision of Professor Eileen Murphy QUB - Archaeology at Queen's. She engaged interdisciplinary methods of osteology (entheseal changes, radiography, CT scans) and engineering (musculoskeletal modelling, and biomechanical gait analysis) to develop 3D musculoskeletal models replicating the potential gait of physically impaired individuals during their life.
With their locomotive abilities established, Jess made inferences on the care they may have required to maintain a standard of living within their sociocultural context.
