Health and Disease in Byzantine Crete (7th–12th centuries AD)

Dr Chryssi Bourbou is a Research Associate at the 28th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities (Hellenic Ministry of Culture), Greece

• Introduction; The jigsaw puzzle of health in context; In search of Homo Byzantinus; Tiny occupants in shallow graves: the bioarchaeology of non-adult individuals; The Byzantine world on a plate; Conclusions: reconstructing health and disease patterns in Byzantine Crete: results and perspectives; Glossary; References cited; Index.

'Bourbou does an excellent job of introducing the reader to the biochemistry involved in stable isotope analysis, a process key to determining the daily diet of these former residents of Crete.' Speculum 'This study is a milestone in the series Medicine in the Medieval Mediterranean, which is devoted to all aspects of medicine during the Middle Ages. Bourbou has provided the reader with careful analysis and interpretation of human remains dated to the Byzantine era (seventh-twelfth centuries AD) and excavated from archaeological sites on the island of Crete in Greece, such as Eleutherna, Kastella, Stylos and Petras... Bourbou’s study has laid important groundwork for future palaeopathological and bioarchaeological explorations.' Social History of Medicine 'Bourbou’s major originality and contribution to these topics is her thorough analysis of bio-archaeological remains, which complements ideally any textual and archaeological study of these subject... [it] will undoubtedly prove helpful to scholars in the field.' The Medieval Review