About the Oracle WORD database

Osteologist measuring bones

The Oracle WORD database has been designed to allow rapid recording and easily accessible extraction of data for research from the many varied skeletal assemblages curated at the Museum of London (Connell and Rauxloh 2003). The database has been under development for the past four years and also through rigorous testing by ten osteologists.

The system follows the recommended osteological standard recording methods (Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994, Brickley et al 2003 and Mays et al 2003). You can download the Museum Group osteological method statement, detailing the methods used to establish demographic data and diagnose disease in all inhumed remains recorded at the both CHB and MoLAS, here.

Osteology method statement 2008 (PDF 506kb)

The database system has three main components;

The first records details about the skeleton and basic contextual information.

The second component records all bones and teeth present.

The third component records all present variables, such as age, sex, metrical, non-metrical and dental and skeletal pathological data.

The procedure is designed to be applicable to both adults and sub-adults.

In relation to the database and its use, coding and procedures for data entry have been formulated to standardise the data and assist the osteologist. The database manual (PDF 194kb) describes the coding used in the skeletal data recording and is a necessary tool in understanding the data downloads.


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