Skeletal remains from Pompeii and Herculaneum provided insights into the health of the ancient Roman population. Examinations found the population was generally healthy, with average heights of 155cm for females and 168cm for males. Diet appeared balanced, relying more on vegetables and seafood than meat. Some skeletons showed significant tooth wear from grit in flour. Evidence of disease, heavy labor, and surgical practice like trepanation was also observed.

1. Everyday Life - Health

2. Everyday Life - Health
• The main evidence for the health of the
population comes from the investigations
of skeletal remains
• Estelle Lazer examined skeletons from
Pompeii and Sara Bisel and Luigi
Carpasso examined those from
Herculaneum

3. Everyday Life - Health
• Some general conclusions about health,
height, gender and age can be drawn
from examining the bones
• Overall, skeletons present a good
sample of the population, including
men, women and children, although
infants and juveniles are under
represented because their remains are
less likely to have survived

4. Everyday Life - Health
• The condition of the bones suggests a
reasonably healthy population
• On average female skeletons are shorter
than the males, 155cm compared with
168cm, a little taller than modern
Neapolitans
• On the basis of minerals present in the
bones, Bisel concludes that most people in
Herculaneum ate vegetables and seafood
rather than a large amount of meat to
obtain their protein

5. Everyday Life - Health
• Teeth in some skeletons
show considerable wear,
sometimes down to the
gum line, due mainly to
the grit in bread
resulting from the flour
milling process
• Lazer has made some
deductions about
disease, although she
cautions that not all
diseases show up in
bones
• She has found evidence
of respiratory problems
and symptoms of a
menopausal condition in
some of the female
remains

6. Everyday Life - Health
• Bisel and Carpasso have interpreted the
signs of muscle usage as evidence of
heavy manual work
• Lazer cautions that there may be other
explanations, perhaps heavy athletic
training would have produced similar
evidence

7. Everyday Life - Health
• Collections of surgical
instruments have been
uncovered in different
locations in Pompeii,
including tweezers, forceps,
probes, clamps, pliers,
instruments for drilling into
bone and instruments for
manipulating fractured
bones
• Two skeletons provide
evidence of trepanation, an
operation involving the
removal of a piece of skull
to help relieve pressure on
the brain
• Both patients survived the
operation