Health and the Little Ice Age in Southeastern Germany and Alpine Austria: Synergies between Stress, Nutritional Deficiencies, and Disease

Abstract

Climate change has diverse effects on populations depending on their local contexts. This paper examines bioarchaeological samples from central Europe to elucidate the impacts of the Little Ice Age (LIA) on populations living in non-marginal environments. Frequency and severity of multiple skeletal indicators (linear enamel hypoplasia [LEH], cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis, and lower limb osteoperiostitis) are assessed from four German and Austrian skeletal series (N = 170). Earlier periods (Medieval Climate Anomaly/Little Ice Age [MCA/LIA]) were compared to the later, peak-LIA to test hypotheses predicting temporal increase in indicator frequency and severity. 

Multiple LEH defects per tooth are more common in the peak-LIA, though LEH prevalence is not different, likely due to the near ubiquity of this indicator in the samples. Lower limb osteoperiostitis is more frequent and severe in the peak-LIA than in the other periods, but cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis are more common in the MCA/LIA. The complexity of these results underscores how local contexts, historical selective pressures, and pathological processes interact to influence human biological responses to climate change.