Diet, society, and economy in late medieval Spain: Stable isotope evidence from Muslims and Christians from Gandía, Valencia

Abstract

This article investigates the diets of neighboring Christians and Muslims in late medieval Spain (here 13th–16th centuries) through the analysis of the stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) in adult human and animal bone collagen. Twenty-four Christians and 20 Muslims are sampled from two adjacent and contemporaneous settlements in the township of Gandía on the Mediterranean coast, together with the remains of 24 animals. Statistical differences in both δ13C and δ15N reveal that the diets of the two faith communities differed, despite living side-by-side. These differences may relate to inequalities in their access to foodstuffs, particularly to C3/C4 grain and/or possibly terrestrial meat sources, though cultural preferences are also highlighted. Isotopic values for animals were also found to vary widely, both between and within species, and this provides a window into the local livestock economy. Am J Phys Anthropol 156:263–273, 2015. © 2014 The Authors. American Journal of physical Anthropology published by Wiley Periodicals,Inc.

A combined dietary approach using isotope and dental buccal-microwear analysis of human remains from the Neolithic, Roman and Medieval periods from the archaeological site of Tossal de les Basses (Alicante, Spain)

“…These very similar and tightly clustered values suggest that the ancient Western Mediterranean commercial network and social mobility was probably responsible for people from different contemporary cultures (Punics-Romans, RomansByzantine) consuming similar types of foods and having similar dietary patterns (or at least to the extent that their isotope values were similar). This apparent homogeneity in Western Mediterranean ancient populations disappears when looking at the Medieval values from the region (Alexander et al, 2015;Salazar-García et al, 2014b), including those recorded from Tossal de les Basses. Together (n = 114) they have a δ 13 C mean value of −17.1 ± 1.2 [1σ] ‰ and a δ 15 N mean value of 11.2‰ ± 1.0 [1σ] with ranges of −19.4‰ to −13.1‰ and 8.5‰ to 13.0‰ respectively.…”

“…Although no animal remains were available from the chronological periods associated with the human remains studied at Tossal de les Basses, we used faunal data from other sites of Eastern Iberia and Ibiza for the Middle-Late Neolithic (Fontanals-Coll et al, 2015;Salazar-García, 2009, 2011a, 2014, Roman Salazar-García et al, 2010) and Medieval (Alexander et al, 2015;Fuller et al, 2010) periods. Animal isotopic values were grouped together as ovicaprid, suid, bovid, equid, cervid, rabbit, small carnivore, dogs, cat, bird, shark and whale.…”

“…The application of these analytical techniques in Mediterranean Iberia has significantly increased during the past few years, creating an important corpus of dietary data from the region. Studies from the Palaeolithic (García-Guixé et al, 2009;Salazar-García et al, 2013a), Mesolithic (Fernández-López de Pablo et al, 2013;García-Guixé et al, 2006;Salazar-García et al, 2014a), Neolithic-Chalcolithic (Fontanals-Coll et al, 2015;Fuller et al, 2010;García-Borja et al, 2013;McClure et al, 2011;De Juan, 2004, 2007;Salazar-García, 2009, 2011a, 2014, Bronze Age (McClure et al, 2011;Polo-Cerdá et al, 2007;Romero and De Juan, 2007), Iron Age (Salazar-García et al, 2010), Punic Salazar-García, 2011b), Roman and Medieval (Alexander et al, 2015;Fuller et al, 2010;Salazar-García et al, 2014b) periods have been performed in Mediterranean Iberia and the nearby island of Ibiza. However, to date only a few studies have had a wide diachronic approach to diet in Spain (see Fuller et al, 2010;Salazar-García et al, 2013b).…”

Social status in late medieval and early modern Brittany: insights from stable isotope analysis

“…6b). (Bocherens 1991;Polet and Katzenberg 2003;Müldner and Richards 2005;Herrscher 2003;Yoder et al 2012;Lubritto et al 2013;Olsen et al 2016;Quiros Castillo 2016;Alexander et al 2015), and square symbols correspond to local values. Error bars are giving the SD for each site t = δ 13 C bone -δ 13 C tooth ; Fig.…”

“…Isotopic analyses are widely used to unravel dietary differences between social status in late medieval and early modern times in several European regions (Polet and Katzenberg 2003;Richards 2005, 2007;Fornaciari 2008, Kjellström et al 2009Mundee 2010;Yoder 2012;Lubritto et al 2013;Quintelier et al 2014;Lamb et al 2014;Alexander et al 2015;Olsen et al 2016, van der Sluis et al 2016. In France, the diet of urban poor individuals was documented (Bocherens 1991;Herrscher et al 2001Herrscher et al , 2003Herrscher et al , 2004, but differences between socio-economic groups have yet to be investigated.…”