Urbanism and its Impact on Human Health: A long-term study at Knossos, Crete

Urbanism and its Impact on Human Health demonstrates how social, economic and political changes impacted the everyday lives of the people of Knossos, at the fundamental level of their health and diet, during the Hellenistic, Roman and Late Antique periods. Knossos, in north-central Crete, was an important site in Aegean and Mediterranean networks throughout this timespan, though the city experienced cycles of urban development and decline. As an extensively studied and well-documented site, it provides a unique opportunity to study long-term phenomena associated with its varied past. The present osteological and isotopic research is integrated with previous work on material culture and textual sources to provide a contextualised interpretation of the lifeways and social history of the people of Knossos.