For those who’ve always wondered how people with disabilities were treated in the late Middle Ages, archaeologists have made an exciting discovery. Their attention turns to a man they only know as Individual 2399. This man was in his early thirties at the time of death. He was buried in a cemetery in Lund, southern Sweden and his remains provide a unique window into the social prejudices of that time.
Individual 2399 was likely between 1300 and 1536 CE and showed a marked traumatic dislocated fracture of the knee joint. His femoral fracture had a gruesome 45-degree angulation. This perhaps means that he was very crippled in his mobility. As amazing as it is, in spite of this religious difference, he was indeed buried at the base of a church tower. Typically, this space would be occupied by those of higher socioeconomic status, such as the burgher class. The location of the burial site nearest to the Church suggests that he would have been a part of a fairly prosperous class of society.
The second study on Individual 2399 was led by PhD student Blair Nolan, with co-authors from Lund University, Sweden. This research represents the first use of an osteological approach to medieval remains in the Nordic region. The journal Open Archaeology made the discoveries publicly available. Together, these findings provide crucial context about how people with disabilities were viewed and cared for during this significant period in history.
Nolan focused on the challenges that researchers face in attempting to extract changing social norms regarding physical disabilities from religious and legal documents. He explained that’s not always the case as these texts tend to glorify the ideal. To further explore the nature of disability and identity, he recommended that we look to fine-grained osteological and archaeological synthesis.
Scientists continue to study Individual 2399’s skeleton. Their aim is to explore how societal attitudes towards those with disabilities would have operated in the late medieval period’s complex, gendered, classed landscape. In all, this study provides a tremendous amount of detail about the life of Individual 2399. It also examines bigger questions of how society at large accepted and treated disabled people back then.