Dissertation
The Air We Breathe
A study into the impact of historical socioeconomic changes on the respiratory health of past Dutch populations (ca. 470-1850 CE)
- Author
- Casna, M.
- Date
- 17 June 2025
- Links
- Scholarly Publications repository
Today, respiratory disorders are among the greatest contributors to the global burden of disease and constitute one of the most recurring causes of impairment in the Netherlands. These disorders have many causes (e.g., poor air quality, tobacco consumption) and tend to be associated with living environment and socioeconomic circumstances.
The analysis of skeletal lesions associated with respiratory disorders has the unique opportunity to provide an historical perspective on the impact of socioeconomic changes on people’s health, highlighting how less-populated environments tend to show lower frequencies of respiratory disorders when compared to more densely populated ones. Previous historical and archaeological research has shaped the trope of life dramatically worsening with urban development. However, the urbanization movement was markedly variable, and it presumably affected people’s lives in extremely different ways. In the Netherlands specifically, cities grew rapidly and independently from one another, making these contexts interesting microcosms of intense urbanisation for which it is difficult to assess how human experiences changed over time.
To contribute to a more complete understanding of urbanisation, this research investigates respiratory health in the skeletal remains of several Dutch populations dating from the medieval to early modern period, with a nuanced lens focused on the biosocial products of urbanisation. In addition to gleaning a new narrative of Dutch social history, this study provides a multidisciplinary and contextually driven perspective on respiratory health, a problem of increasing concern across the world today.