Mortality and Survival in Medieval Canterbury: Statistical Analyses Identifying Health of Individuals

Canterbury was a major pilgrimage city between the 11th to 15th century. This increase in population led the city to transform from a small rural town to a busy urban city. Urban areas in medieval England were thought to have dense living environments, inadequate sanitation, and unpredictable food supply that affected the lifestyles and health of the population. This research uses statistical methods to explore the relationship between health and urbanisation in medieval Canterbury. Ages at death, biological sex, and skeletal physiological stress markers from an osteoarchaeological analysis of St. Gregory’s Priory and Cemetery are integrated into statistical analyses as proxies for health. Cox proportional hazards model, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and risk estimate are used to recognise the risk of mortality between males and females and between individuals with and without skeletal indicators of physiological stress. The outcome from statistical analyses provides preliminary results on the effect of medieval Canterbury’s urban environment had on individuals’ health.