The skeletal remains found at three cemeteries were X-rayed to determine injuries
NICK SAFFELL/UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE/PA WIRE
X-rays of more than 300 graveyard skeletons have revealed the high levels of injuries suffered by medieval manual labourers.
Skeletons from three local graveyards were studied by archaeologists from Cambridge University.
They found 44% of working people in a parish cemetery had bone fractures, compared to 32% in a wealthier one, and 27% in a cemetery for the infirm.
The study had "helped gauge the hazards of daily life", the team said.
The burial sites were within what is now the historic city centre, and the 314 skeletons were at least 25% complete.
They dated from the 10th to 14th Centuries when Cambridge was primarily a provincial town of artisans, merchants and farmhands, with scholars arriving in 1209.
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