Infectious Diseases in Medieval Iceland. A Comparative Study Between Skriðuklaustur Monastery and Haffjarðarey.

• Main Author: Erla Arnardóttir 1990-
• Other Authors: Háskóli Íslands
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: Fornleifafræði; Haffjarðarey; Skriðuklaustur; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/46414

This thesis aims to analyze and compare the commonality of three specific infectious diseases between two Icelandic archaeological sites from the same chronological period, the medieval times. The information that was gathered has been put into statistical data, such as sex, age at the time of the individual's death, and which disease they were found to have been infected with at the time of their passing. The methodology used was both quantitative and qualitative in order to find a correlation between the two sites, as well as a possible scenario will be discussed on how these infectious diseases spread to these individuals. Also, a discussion will be held on specific cases and diseases they were found to have been infected with. The most common disease within each category was assessed to see if there was a disease that was more common in a specific category than in other categories. The results show that comparing these two archaeological sites is difficult due to the fact that they are very different. An attempt was then made to find other commonalities between the sites by analyzing nutritional deficiencies, where the results showed again a noticeable difference between the two sites. Further pathological analysis will have to be conducted on one of the sites in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how the diseases could have spread among the Icelandic population during medieval times and where people from that area could have travelled to seek help and treatments.