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Cemetery teeth connect vitamin D history with Little Ice Age climate

Teeth and burial records from northeastern England suggest that climate deserves a place alongside industrial pollution in the history of vitamin D deficiency. The peer-reviewed observational study found recurring mineralization defects in a small cemetery sample. Its comparison with solar and volcanic activity raises a possible environmental contribution without assigning individual illnesses to particular eruptions.

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Low-angle wide view of a bioarchaeology laboratory bench with historical human teeth in a tray, glass slides holding thin tooth sections and a microscope.

Dental growth preserves recurring disruptions

Teeth from a Quaker cemetery in North Shields, northeastern England, preserve mineralization defects consistent with episodes of vitamin D deficiency. A peer-reviewed historical study in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology combines those findings with burial records to examine health during the Little Ice Age. The researchers consider climate alongside the industrial pollution often invoked in discussions of rising rickets in this period. The Little Ice Age extended from the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries, with solar and volcanic changes contributing to cooling.[1], [2]

Coach Lane cemetery was used between 1711 and 1829. The team examined 30 teeth from 21 unidentified individuals. Dentin, the tissue inside teeth, can retain disruptions in mineral formation during growth. Repeated bands in some samples fit a seasonal pattern. The dental observations were compared with previous skeletal assessments and evidence from other European populations.[1], [2]

Burial dates overlap with volcanic and solar changes

Burial registers allowed estimated birth years for 109 people. Of these, 91 were born within 10 years of a major volcanic eruption, and 41 during overlapping periods of volcanic activity and low solar output. These are population-level comparisons. Without grave markers, the sampled teeth could not be matched to named burial entries or assigned a precise calendar of childhood exposures.[1]

Bioarchaeologist Ellen Kendall proposed that unusually cold winters may have kept children indoors or more heavily covered when outside, reducing their exposure to ultraviolet light. North Shields had not yet undergone extensive industrialization. This makes its cemetery useful for exploring environmental pressures beyond the polluted urban settings that dominate accounts of vitamin D deficiency in industrial Europe.[2]

Diet and living conditions remain part of the explanation

The study is observational and cannot attribute an individual illness to a particular eruption. Diet, pollution, housing, work, latitude and social roles could also affect vitamin D status. Small samples and scarce comparable dental material constrain broader conclusions. Preparing thin sections damages teeth, further restricting comparable collections; the authors call for better dated samples with known life histories to examine the environmental relationships more closely.[1], [2]

References

  1. News sourceFrontiers in Environmental ArchaeologyCemetery teeth put climate into the history of vitamin D deficiency↩1↩2↩3↩4
  2. News sourceScience NewsLittle Ice Age climate may have worsened vitamin D deficiency↩1↩2↩3↩4
Space and explorationEnergy transition and climate

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