Transverse--Harris--lines in a skeletal population from the 1711 Danish plague site

This study examines the occurrence and distribution of transverse lines in skeletal remains from the Copenhagen site, a plague cemetery dated 1711 AD. A relatively low frequency for evidence of line formation was observed in the individuals comprising the total sample and no transverse lines were present in the subadult category. This paper addresses the pattern of transverse line occurrence and cohort-specific distribution in a plague sample in light of the multiple factors influencing line formation and resorption and discusses the significance of transverse lines as measures of non-specific acute stress in archaeologically derived populations.