Analysis of the remains also provided direct evidence of social behaviours.
During this period, smoking with tobacco pipes became a common practice.
Habitual smokers develop grooves in the dentition from gripping the
pipe with their teeth. All the individuals with pipe grooves in their
dentition were male; some individuals even exhibit two or more grooves
on both sides of the jaw, demonstrating that they were swapping their
pipes from one side of the mouth to the other.
Another aspect of social life in St. Andrew's was revealed through the high prevalence rates of trauma. This was the second most common type of pathology recorded and reflects not only the overcrowded and hectic nature of life in street and at work but also in part a rise in interpersonal violence and organised sports such as bareknuckle fighting. One male individual was found to have a broken nose and a fracture to the hand commonly the result of a poorly thrown punch and another male a Bennett's Fracture of the thumb (often linked to working with reciprocating machinery, riding or boxing accidents). Three further individuals presented multiple rib fractures and one individual suffered a broken jaw. Most fractures were well healed and appeared to have been treated successfully.