Structural violence in Éire: The bone histology of victims from the Great Famine (Kilkenny, Ireland 1845-1852)

This project uses bone histological analysis to explore how disease, diet, and social circumstances affected the bone remodeling of a group of people who died during the Great Famine in Ireland between 1845 and 1852. The human remains discovered on the grounds of the nineteenth century Kilkenny Union Workhouse in Kilkenny City, Ireland represent a well contextualized, homogenous group of people who died due to stress induced by the Great Famine sometime between 1847-1851. These factors make this an ideal population to study the biological effects of structural violence and for investigating the meaning of skeletal lesions, often referred to as the “osteological paradox”.
\nIn 1845, a potato blight wiped out the primary means of subsistence for the poor in Ireland, causing the country to lose a quarter of its population to death and migration. This event had a massive cultural, demographic, and biological impact on the world and has been the source of international scholarly interest in the recent past. Historical research has suggested the poor in Ireland suffered and died from comorbidities of infectious and metabolic disease due to food insecurity, the cause of which is debated but is often attributed to conflicts with England. Bioarchaeologists have recently examined the effects of diet and disease on the macroscopic surface of the skeletons but none have looked at the effects of the Great Famine on their bone microstructure. 
\nThe skeleton reacts to physiological effects of stress on the micro level before presenting as lesions on bone, and since many diseases are not reflected in the bioarchaeological record, histological analyses of bone may be informative of the lived experience of those with and without lesions. This study compares bone remodeling patterns in the ribs of 99 adults and 87 subadults between four disease categories: metabolic disease, infectious disease, comorbidities of infectious and metabolic disease, and no lesions, to determine if variation in bone microstructure exists between disease types. This was conducted using bone histological variables that reflect the maturity of remodeling and extent of porosity, which can be indicative of overall health. Additionally, carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope values obtained from the ribs of the same individuals were compared to bone histological variables to determine if changes in diet due to the loss of the potato and the introduction of maize as a relief food influenced bone remodeling. 
\nThe results show that rib bone porosity is highest in adults without lesions and lowest in adults with evidence of infectious disease. Similar results were obtained in the subadult cohort. Additionally, those with evidence of scurvy generally show less porosity throughout the rib cortex for both age cohorts. Comparisons of histomorphometry with stable isotope values showed a positive correlation between osteon size and δ15N values in adults as well as a positive correlation between Haversian canal size and δ13C values in the subadults, possibly indicating slower remodeling in those with more evidence for starvation and less mature remodeling in those with maize in their diet, respectively. This study showed that bone histology is impacted by both disease and diet and may be useful for interpreting the meaning of lesions and understanding the impact of social status on population health.

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