Schofield/London, 7. Human health and the environment

So far in this study, the approach to each topic has been to start with the wider view and gradually focus on smaller elements, down to the smallest detail. With houses, for instance, we started with plans, then room functions and furnishings, then materials which included individual timbers and bricks. This chapter, on examples of archaeological reconstruction of the medieval and Tudor environment, works the other way; from the bones of individual people, to reconstruction of their immediate environment, though by studying the smallest of creatures and seeds, and finally the largest factors in the environment, that is the River Thames, the sea and the weather. From all these we can perhaps make suggestions about the quality of life during these centuries.