Mary Rose ship skeletons studied

A reconstruction of the Mary Rose, which sank in 1545 Should shipwrecks be left alone?The wreck that revealed the RoseVisitors get access to Mary Rose Skeletons recovered from the wreck of a King Henry VIII's warship the Mary Rose are being studied to discover more about life in medieval times.

Swansea University sports scientists are hoping to find out more about the toll on the bodies of archers who had to pull heavy bows.

It is documented that archers were aboard the ship when it sank in 1545.

The wreck was raised from the Solent in 1982, containing thousands of medieval artefacts.

The ship, which is now based in Portsmouth where a new museum is being built to house her, also had 92 fairly complete skeletons of the crew of the Mary Rose.

Nick Owen, a sport and exercise bio mechanist from the College of Engineering at Swansea University, said: "This sample of human remains offers a unique opportunity to study activity related changes in human skeletons.

"It is documented that there was a company of archers aboard when the ship sank, at a time when many archers came from Wales and the south west of England.

"These archers had specialist techniques for making and using very powerful longbows. Some bows required a lifetime of training and immense strength as the archers had to pull weights up to 200lbs (about 90kg)."

He said archers were the elite athletes of the Tudor age, requiring great skill and strength to fire up to 12 arrows a minute, holding a heavy bow in one arm.

Continue reading the main story“Start QuoteThey know so much about the ship and every object on there - but nothing about the people on board”

End QuoteNick OwenSwansea University "It is known that archers were on board as 'arm guards' that they used were found. But they don't know which skeletons they would be.

"So we are analysing the lower arm bones as those are the ones that are likely to show a difference," he said.

"In fact, on one of the skeletons we have looked at, the surface area of the joint between the lower arm and elbow is 48% larger than on the joint on the other arm."

Effect on skeletons

Alexzandra Hildred, curator of ordnance at the Mary Rose Trust said that in the Tudor age, it was a requirement by law for every man and boy to practice archery regularly from an early age.

"Many of the skeletons recovered show evidence of repetitive stress injuries of the shoulder and lower spine," she said.