Introduction

There are many pathological conditions commonly recorded on the adult skeleton that can be identified on non-adult remains. Dental disease (Lunt, 1972; O'Sullivan et al., 1989, 1992; Watt et al., 1997), specific infections such as leprosy (Lewis, 2002b) and syphilis, rheumatoid arthritis (Rothschild et al., 1997), neoplasms (Lagier et al., 1987; Nerlich and Zink, 1995; Barnes and Ortner, 1997; Alt et al., 2002; Anderson, 2002) and congenital conditions including hydrocephalus, Binder syndrome and achondroplastic dwarfism (Huizinga, 1982; Black and Scheuer, 1996; East and Buikstra, 2001; Tillier et al., 2001; Mulhern, 2002) have all been previously reported. In order for lesions produced by these conditions to be seen on the skeleton, the individual has to be immunologically compromised sufficently to develop the condition, but strong enough to survive the disease into its chronic stages (Ortner, 1991). Acute infections, such as the plague, whooping cough, smallpox, measles and scarlet fever, were known to be major causes of child death in the past, but often killed the individual before any skeletal lesions could develop. The chronicity of a disease depends on host immunity, and the number and pathogenicity of the invading organisms (Ortner, 2003). Therefore, not all childhood diseases will be evident in the skeletal record, and preservation, growth and the nature of paediatric bone can both aid and limit the diagnosis of diseases in non-adult skeletal remains.