An examination of skulls from two British sites for possible evidence of scurvy

Skulls and mandibles from the Romano‐British site of Poundbury, Dorset and a medieval site at Abingdon in Oxfordshire were examined for porosity which has been considered to be indicative of the presence of scurvy. In addition, a number of skulls from various locations in Peru were examined. Virtually all the skulls had porosity at at least one site and in all cases the palate was most frequently affected. The rank order of affected sites showed some differences between the three samples but the most striking change was the frequency with which the cranial vault and maxilla were affected in the Peruvian skulls compared with the British. The differences were not statistically significant, however. None of the appearances was consistent with those of known cases of infantile scurvy and we doubt whether scurvy can be diagnosed on the basis of porosity in the skull and mandible unless it conforms to recognized clinical patterns. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.