Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Friday 12 November 2021

In the teeth of the evidence


As often happens I chanced unexpectedly upon a short article published on Ancient Origins almost four years ago and which raises some interesting possibilities about calculating the age at death of medieval skeletons, and more especially those of older people, from their teeth. This method yields results that challenges the idea that a reasonable number of people did not reach what we might think of as old age.

The article can be seen here


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