PALEOPATHOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Piers Mitchell

Piers Mitchell, a paleopathologist teaching in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and studying ancient diseases has in recent years carried out research on crusader period human skeletal remains from the city of Caesarea, the village of Parvum Gerinum, and the castle of Vadum Iacob. He is part of the team currently studying crusader period mass graves outside the city walls of Sidon. The lab work for this project is being undertaken by Richard Mikulski at the University of Bournemouth, UK.

Mitchell is also carrying out an investigation of intestinal parasites from the analysis of crusader period latrines and cesspools. These include latrines from the coastal city of Acre, Sarandra Kolones castle in Cyprus, and a new project investigating the latrines at the Teutonic Order castle at Montfort. Samples from the latrines and drains across the castle will be analysed using digital light microscopy to detect the eggs of intestinal parasitic worms, and ELISA to detect the single celled protozoa that can cause dysentery."