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Uniform diet in a diverse society. Revealing new dietary evidence of the Danish Roman Iron Age based on stable isotope analysis
Author(s) -
Jørkov Marie Louise S.,
Jørgensen Lars,
Lynnerup Niels
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.21346
Subject(s) - danish , subsistence agriculture , isotope analysis , stable isotope ratio , period (music) , geography , consumption (sociology) , population , δ15n , ecology , biology , δ13c , demography , agriculture , social science , philosophy , linguistics , physics , quantum mechanics , sociology , acoustics
Abstract A systematic dietary investigation during Danish Roman Iron Age (1‐375AD) is conducted by analyzing stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) in the collagen of human and animal bone. The human sample comprises 77 individuals from 10 burial sites. In addition 31 samples of mammals and fish were analyzed from same geographical area. The investigation characterizes the human diet among different social groupings and analyses dietary differences present between sex, age, and site phase groups. Diachronically, the study investigates the Roman influences that had an effect on social structure and subsistence economy in both the Early and Late Period. Geographically the locations are both inland and coastal. The isotopic data indicate extremely uniform diet both between and within population groups from Early and Late Roman periods and the data are consistent throughout the Roman Iron Age. Protein consumption was dominated by terrestrial animals with no differences among social status, age, sex, or time period, while terrestrial plant protein only seems to have contributed little in the diet. Furthermore, the consumption of marine or aquatic resources does not seem to have been important, even among the individuals living next to the coast. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.