Medieval Mouths in Context: Biocultural and Multi-Scalar Considerations of the Mouth and the Case of Late-Medieval Villamagna, Italy

Abstract

THIS PAPER EXAMINES THE CULTURAL FRAMEWORK and material evidence for teeth and oral health in later medieval Europe, using as a case study the bioarchaeological analysis of an excavated cemetery in central Italy (Villamagna). It proffers an alternative approach to the study of human skeletal material by reframing the questions that bioarchaeologists normally ask about mouths. Instead of stopping at, ‘how much disease?’ or ‘what state of health?’, here, ‘how did the mouth relate to individuals’ experiences of their world, and how might scientific information about health and disease provide insight into wider aspects of life, society and economy?’ is asked. This paper points to a range of cultural understandings around the mouth which were changing in the High and Later Middle Ages (c 1000–1400), namely: the Bible and changing explanations for the relationships between mouth, heart, confession and experience of the divine; an evolving understanding of medicine and medical principles; and new forms of saintly intervention involved in healthcare. Detailed osteobiographies of two adults from Villamagna illustrate shaped individual experiences and the ways in which oral condition reflects and use-patterns and lifeways common to such communities.