Helena Bütehorn
Title: Examination of Skeletal Remains from a Historical Cemetery for the Poor in Lübeck with Special Focus on Markers of Occupational Stress
From 1639 to 1868, St. Anne’s Churchyard in Lübeck was the burial place for the city’s poor. This included the inhabitants of St. Anne’s poor and workhouse; a facility accommodating poor people, orphans and inmates alike. As part of the cemetery was recently excavated due to local construction works, the skeletal remains of the individuals buried at St. Anne’s are now to be examined.
For my master’s thesis, I examine the skeletal remains of the about 230 adult individuals together with Lea Beverungen to create a complete catalogue of findings. This encompasses the assessment of skeletal preservation, the determination of the individuals’ sex, age at death and body height, and the recording of other characteristics such as palaeopathological transformations. The results of the anthropological examination will provide information on population composition (e.g. the distribution of age groups and sex) as well as the individuals’ health, diet and other living circumstances.
Additionally, I examine markers of occupational stress. Since the skeletal system is a dynamic organ that adapts to mechanical stress, these markers reflect the amount and kind of physical labour the individuals had to conduct during their lifetime. In particular, I investigate signs of arthrotic transformations, degeneration of the spinal column and development of muscle attachments sites. This way, I seek to gain insight into the life and working conditions of poor people from this time period. Comparisons to other skeletal series can show how these circumstances potentially differ between social classes and to what extent the results are transferrable to other populations.
Curriculum vitae
2018 – 2022 Bachelorstudium an der Universität Göttingen: B.Sc. Biologie
2022 – 2025 Masterstudium an der Universität Göttingen: M.Sc. Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution (Schwerpunkt: Biologische Spurenkunde)
2022 Studentische Hilfskraft am Albrecht-von-Haller Institut der Universität Göttingen
Tätigkeiten: Unterstützende Kursbetreuung und Durchführung von Tutorien im Biologischen Praktikum für Studierende der Medizin
2023 – 2025 Studentische Hilfskraft am Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach Institut in der Abteilung Historische Anthropologie und Humanökologie der Universität Göttingen
Tätigkeiten: Betreuung von osteologischen Kursen, anthropologische Untersuchung von archäologischem Skelettmaterial, Anfertigung histologischer Knochenpräparate
2024 – 2025 Freiberufliche Mitarbeit im Anthropologiebüro Jungklaus
Tätigkeiten: Anthropologische Untersuchung von archäologischem Skelettmaterial, anthropologische Grabungsbegleitung, Digitalisierung anthropologischer Untersuchungsergebnisse
Seit Juni 2025 Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin und PhD-Kandidatin im DFG-Projekt „Assessing impact of short-term climatic change on human populations of the Near East using combined histological and isotopic methods“ an der Universität Hildesheim
15. Internationale Tagung der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie: „Moving Forward in Biological Anthropology” – 30.03.2025 – 03.04.2025, Kiel.
Konferenzbeitrag: Bütehorn H., Beverungen L.M., Grosskopf B.: Investigating Markers of Occupational Stress. An Analysis of Skeletal Remains from an Early Modern Cemetery for the Poor in Lübeck.
Prämiert mit dem 3. Platz des Early Career Award der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie.