Contribution to Longobard dietary studies: Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data from Castel Trosino (6th-8th c. CE, Ascoli Piceno, central Italy) (original) (raw)
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Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2018
This work examines the carbon and nitrogen composition of human and animal collagen from the Roman necropolis of Lucus Feroniae (Rome, 1st-3rd century AD) and the Longobard cemetery of La Selvicciola in northern Latium (Viterbo, 7th century AD), with a special focus on possible dietary variations at the transition between classical and post-classical times. A substantial isotopic difference between the two series reveals distinct dietary practices at the two sites, especially the consumption of cereals and contribution of other foodstuffs to a mainly grain-based diet. We argue that such differences are explained through the social and cultural background of the two populations examined, where the isotopic variance of the Roman data is in line with that of a group of heterogeneous origin and varied dietary practices, while the tight clustering of isotopic signatures for the Longobard people reflects the foodways of a homogeneous group. Intra-site variation shows no significant difference according to the sex of the deceased. Outlying individuals might be explained through cultural practices that call for further insight. Isotopic data have shown to successfully reflect social and cultural phenomena of human groups in a changing world, in a way that other archaeological proxies have sometimes failed to achieve.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 24, pp. 92-101, 2019
The Medieval period in Europe was a time of unprecedented social complexity and significant social and political change that had an impact on human diets. The present study aims to use stable isotope analysis from bone proteins to explore the diets of humans (n = 76) and fauna (n = 5) from the Medieval town of Leopoli-Cencelle (VT, Italy). The town was occupied between the 9th-15th centuries CE, however, the analysed remains date to the Late Medieval period (12th-15th centuries CE). Historical sources provide some information about the inhabitants of this community: the majority of the population was represented by craftsmen and traders, but farmers and shepherds were also present. To date, no biomolecular data regarding this community have been published.
Journal of Archaeological Science Reports, 2019
This study uses bulk stable isotope analysis of carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) of bone collagen to investigate the diets of two deserted medieval villages, Apigliano and Quattro Macine, in Apulia, Southern Italy. The sampled cemeteries represent Latin Catholic and Greek Orthodox religious culture. The aim was to investigate potential inter-and intra-site variation (age, sex, faith, ethnicity, burial location) between these culturally diverse populations and place them in a wider medieval Italian context. Bone collagen was analysed from 103 humans and 33 animals. Sixty-eight humans were sampled from Apigliano (c.13th-15th centuries AD) and 35 individuals from Quattro Macine (c.11th-15th centuries AD). Non-adults, and adults of male, female and unknown sex and contemporaneous animals were sampled from both sites. The isotopic data indicates that both sites subsisted on a terrestrial C 3-based diet with a limited intake of high trophic level protein from meat and fish, as indicated by low δ 15 N values. Diet of non-adults matched that of adults from five years of age at Apigliano, but Quattro Macine non-adults exhibit significantly depleted δ 15 N values. Variability in diet differed between the two settlements, with Apigliano demonstrating a greater range and higher δ 15 N values overall than Quattro Macine. We interpret the differential dietary patterning between sites as a result of socio-cultural and socioeconomic factors. Comparison with isotopic data from other Medieval populations indicates trends in subsistence differences across the Italian Peninsula, particularly associated with the rural/urban nature of settlement and the local economy. This research adds new medieval dietary evidence from a geographical area previously unexplored using isotopic techniques.
The medieval period in Europe was a time of unprecedented social complexity that affected human diet. The diets of certain subgroups—for exam- ple, children, women, and the poor—are chronically underrepresented in historical sources from the medie- val period. To better understand diet and the distribu- tion of foods during the medieval period, we investi- gated stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of 30 individuals from Trino Vercellese, Northern Italy (8th– 13th c.). Specifically, we examined diet differences between subgroups (males and females, and high- and low-status individuals), and diet change throughout the life course among these groups by comparing dentine and bone collagen. Our results show a diet based on ter- restrial resources with input from C4 plants, which could include proso and/or foxtail millet. Diets of low- status males differ from those of females (both status groups) and of high-status males. These differences de- velop in adulthood. Childhood diets are similar among the subgroups, but sex- and status-based differences appear in adulthood. We discuss the possibility of cul- tural buffering and dietary selectivity of females and high-status individuals. Am J Phys Anthropol 148:589– 600, 2012.
Bulletins et mémoires de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, 2013
This article reports results of carbon (13 C/ 12 C) and nitrogen (15 N/ 14 N) stable isotope analysis performed on the bone collagen of a Late Epigravettian human individual and 11 faunal remains from the Upper Palaeolithic deposits of Riparo Tagliente (Verona, Italy). Riparo Tagliente is located in Valpantena on the pre-alpine massif of Monti Lessini, at 250 m a.s.l. Its strategic position, about halfway from the plain and the top of the limestone plateau, has allowed the groups that occupied the site to exploit different ecosystems. The human skeleton comes from an incomplete burial excavated in 1973 and belongs to a young adult male. It is dated between 16,634 and 15,286 cal BP (OxA-10672). The δ 13 C (−18.4‰) and δ 15 N (13.0‰) values of the human individual are enriched compared to those of herbivores on average by +1.2‰ in 13 C and +10.0‰ in 15 N, and to the omnivores on average by +1.4‰ in 13 C and +7.2‰ in 15 N. Isotopic values would indicate an origin of proteins from terrestrial herbivores and high trophic level species. These data match with the results of taphonomic analyses carried out on the bone remains of herbivores, while the study of other species as fish is still in progress. Keywords Epigravettian • Northeastern Italy • Carbon • Nitrogen • Subsistence strategies Résumé Dans l'objectif d'étudier les modes de subsistance à l'Épigravettien récent, des analyses isotopiques (carbone et azote) ont été réalisées sur le collagène osseux d'un sujet humain et de plusieurs espèces animales de la série Paléolithique supérieur de Riparo Tagliente (Vérone, Italie). Le site est localisé dans le fond de vallée du Valpantena, sur le massif préalpin des Monts Lessini, à 250 m au-dessus du niveau marin. Ce site occupe une position qui favorise l'accès à différents écosystèmes, environ à mi-chemin entre la plaine et le sommet du plateau calcaire. Les restes humains sont ceux d'un jeune adulte de sexe masculin, datés entre 16634-15286 cal BP. Les valeurs isotopiques du sujet humain (δ 13 C :-18,4 ‰ ; δ 15 N : 13,0 ‰) montrent un enrichissement important comparativement à la faune herbivore (+1,2 ‰ en 13 C et +10,0 ‰ en 15 N) et par rapport à la faune omnivore du même site (+1,4 ‰ en 13 C et +7,2 ‰ en 15 N). Les valeurs isotopiques (δ 13 C, δ 15 N) enregistrées sur le sujet indiquent que les protéines consommées ont plusieurs origines impliquant des espèces de niveaux trophiques différents. L'étude des traces de boucherie sur la faune herbivore terrestre confirme une partie de ces résultats. Malgré la présence de poisson sur le site, aucune information n'est disponible à ce jour pour discuter des espèces concernées et de leur rôle dans l'alimentation humaine.
Recent years have seen increased interest in skeletal populations from the Imperial Roman Age in Italy, but much less is known about diet and standards of living in the subsequent medieval period. To fill this gap, we conducted a morphological analysis of human remains from Albano, an Italian town near Rome, as well as a stable isotope analysis of bone collagen to reconstruct diet. The sample was recovered from a Medieval cemetery (1040-1220 cal. yr. BP) located in the gardens of the historical Palazzo Doria Pamphili in Albano. A minimum number of 40 individuals (31 adults and 9 sub-adults) were examined using standard methods. Though the general health status of the population was good, signs of cribra orbitalia and diffuse enthesopathies were noted during the morphological examination.
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2013
Recent years have seen increased interest in skeletal populations from the Imperial Roman Age in Italy, but much less is known about diet and standards of living in the subsequent medieval period. To fill this gap, we conducted a morphological analysis of human remains from Albano, an Italian town near Rome, as well as a stable isotope analysis of bone collagen to reconstruct diet. The sample was recovered from a Medieval cemetery (1040-1220 cal. yr. BP) located in the gardens of the historical Palazzo Doria Pamphili in Albano. A minimum number of 40 individuals (31 adults and 9 sub-adults) were examined using standard methods. Though the general health status of the population was good, signs of cribra orbitalia and diffuse enthesopathies were noted during the morphological examination. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of the bone collagen from 24 adult humans and three faunal bones indicate that the diet of the population may be described as predominantly terrestrial and C 3-plant based although the data for some of the individuals suggest a modest consumption of C 4-(millet) based or aquatic proteins. No evidence of significant dietary differences between the sexes was found. The comparison of the isotope data from Albano with those from populations recovered in the same region is consistent with a shift from a terrestrial, possibly plant foods-dominated subsistence in the Early Middle Ages to a diet with a higher contribution from animal proteins, both terrestrial and aquatic, in the Later Middle Ages.
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2016
The medieval period in Europe was a time of unprecedented social complexity that affected human diet. The diets of certain subgroups—for example, children, women, and the poor—are chronically underrepresented in historical sources from the medieval period. To better understand diet and the distribution of foods during the medieval period, we investigated stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of 30 individuals from Trino Vercellese, Northern Italy (8th– 13th c.). Specifically, we examined diet differences between subgroups (males and females, and high- and low-status individuals), and diet change throughout the life course among these groups by comparing dentine and bone collagen. Our results show a diet based on terrestrial resources with input from C4 plants, which could include proso and/or foxtail millet. Diets of low-status males differ from those of females (both status groups) and of high-status males. These differences develop in adulthood. Childhood diets are similar among the subgroups, but sex- and status-based differences appear in adulthood. We discuss the possibility of cultural buffering and dietary selectivity of females and high-status individuals.
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2018
The application of biomolecular techniques for the study of food practices in the Italian Bronze Age has revealed an interesting complexity. This is particularly true for the Po plain, in northern Italy, where the use of 'alternative' grains (i.e., the millets), has been assessed isotopically through the measurement of stable carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) isotope ratios in human and animal bone collagen at the site of Olmo di Nogara (Verona). This work provides new isotopic data from 12 Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age sites from western Veneto and Friuli. Data obtained contribute to the understanding of mode and tempo of the spread of new crops in northeastern Italy, which appears to be a hotspot for the study of Bronze Age farming economies in Europe. We have successfully analyzed 146 specimens to find that δ 13 C values are higher, in a way that we interpret as indicative of C4 plant consumption. Four of the sites analyzed, with a specific chronological indication, show this evidence. We explain this phenomenon as the result of a discontinuous spread of new crops in northeastern Italy at a very specific moment of the Bronze Age. The data presented might call for a reconsideration of food production and consumption among Bronze Age groups of southern Europe.