What Drove Childhood Disease During Industrial Revolution?
Researchers said 91 of 109 people studied were born after major volcanic eruptions, pointing to climate as an added cause of childhood vitamin D deficiency.
- A new Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology study published Thursday links Industrial Revolution vitamin D deficiencies to natural climate shocks, including volcanic activity and low solar output between 1711 and 1829.
- While urbanization and pollution traditionally explained disease during the 1760-1840 industrial shift, researchers argue the Little Ice Age—a cooling period between the 13th and 19th centuries—limited UVB exposure and was overshadowed in previous analyses.
- Durham University archaeological researcher Dr. Ellen Kendall analyzed 30 teeth from 21 individuals buried at North Shields' Coach Lane cemetery, where earlier studies found rickets in 44 per cent of young people examined.
- Lead author Kendall said "climate instability is 'nothing new'" and emphasized that past populations successfully adapted to similar environmental stressors, offering lessons for modern challenges.
- Researchers now advocate including climate variability alongside political and dietary factors to gain a complete picture of human health, noting climate may have been "off the radar of many human bioarchaeologists.
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40 Articles
Centuries-old cemetery helps scientists link climate shocks to Industrial Revolution disease
During England's Industrial Revolution, when the country's farming-based economy transformed into an industrial one between roughly 1760 and 1840, pollution, harsh working conditions, inadequate housing and limited access to sunlight drove disease. Rickets, in which the growing skeleton fails to properly mineralize, was commonplace among children. Traditionally, urbanization, latitude and socioeconomic status were considered the main drivers. A …
Centuries-old cemetery points to colder climate as a factor in childhood vitamin D deficiency in industrial England | Archaeology News Online Magazine
Children in 18th and 19th century England got sick with rickets at high rates, and most explanations point to factory smoke, crowded cities, and poverty. A new study in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology adds another factor that scholars rarely weigh: the climate itself. Researchers from Durham University looked at Coach Lane, a Quaker cemetery in […]
During the Industrial Revolution in England, when the agricultural economy transformed into an industrial one between approximately 1760 and 1840.
Analysis of teeth from an ancient cemetery in England suggests that past climate change may have contributed to vitamin D deficiency and rickets in children.
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