In this episode, Robin Fleming and Sam Leggett discuss their work on an early fifth-century cemetery in the English village of Alton. Using bioarchaeological evidence from bones and teeth, they have made precise discoveries about the diets of individuals buried at Alton, their states of health, and even the ages at which they migrated from wetland ecosystems down tot he drier territory of the South Downs. Fleming and Leggett’s analysis helps to revise and refine long-held ideas about barbarian invasions and the fall of the Roman Empire.

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