Food and Power in Early Medieval England: a Lack of (Isotopic) Enrichment

Leggett, Samantha; Lambert, Tom

doi:10.1017/s0263675122000072

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 112 publications

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“…However, people without leprosy evident in their skeletons may still represent people with the infection. The presence of the few starch grains associated with Panicoideae (e.g., millet) is challenging to justify since, although millet was known in late medieval Britain, it is rarely attested in the archaeobotanical record 43 . Future stable isotope analysis will clarify the meaning of these data.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First archaeological evidence for ginger consumption as a potential medicinal ingredient in a late medieval leprosarium at St Leonard, Peterborough, England

Fiorin,

Roberts,

Baldoni

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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Leprosy was one of the most outwardly visible diseases in the European Middle Ages, a period during which leprosaria were founded to provide space for the sick. The extant documentary evidence for leprosy hospitals, especially in relation to diet, therapeutic, and medical care, is limited. However, human dental calculus stands to be an important source of information as it provides insight into the substances people were exposed to and accumulated in their bodies during their lives. In the present study, microremains and DNA were analysed from the calculus of individuals buried in the late medieval cemetery of St Leonard, a leprosarium located in Peterborough, England. The results show the presence of ginger (Zingiber officinale), a culinary and medicinal ingredient, as well as evidence of consumption of cereals and legumes. This research suggests that affected individuals consumed ingredients mentioned in medieval medical textbooks that were used to treat regions of the body typically impacted by leprosy. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study which has identified Zingiber officinale in human dental calculus in England or on the wider European continent.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First archaeological evidence for ginger consumption as a potential medicinal ingredient in a late medieval leprosarium at St Leonard, Peterborough, England

Fiorin,

Roberts,

Baldoni

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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“…Traditional diets in Europe historically were largely vegetarian (Leggett and Lambert, 2022). It was only in the past 100 years that the society turned to predominantly meat and dairy consumption, partly because of increasing income, food security policy measures, and later by the effects of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).…”

Section: Consumer Behavior Toward the Alternative Protein Movementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alternative protein innovations and challenges for industry and consumer: an initial overview

Hefferon,

De Steur,

Perez-Cueto

et al. 2023

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Over one fourth of today's greenhouse gas emissions are the result of agriculture, with the production of meat representing a large portion of this carbon footprint. As the wealth of low- and middle-income countries continues to increase, the demand for animal-sourced protein, such as dairy and meat products, will escalate. At this point in time, livestock feed alone utilizes almost 40% of the world's cropland. The rapidly increasing world population, coupled with a need for environmental sustainability, has renewed our attention on animal-protein substitutes. Apprehensions over climate change have aided an acceleration in the research and development of alternative proteins, which may replace some animal-sourced protein over time. The alternative dairy and meat industry is developing at a yearly rate of 15.8% and is predicted to reach 1.2 trillion $USD by 2030. This emerging market incorporates new technologies in plant-made protein production, manufacturing of animal proteins by fermentation using microbial bioreactors, and accelerated production of cultivated (also known as cell-based) meat. These new technologies should change the global market drammatically. This article describes the history of the alternative protein industry and its' current status, then offers predictions of future pathways for this rapidly accelerating market. More speculatively, it discusses factors that lead to shifts in consumer behavior that trend toward the adoptation of new technologies.

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Isotope data in Migration Period archaeology: critical review and future directions

Depaermentier

2023

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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Early Mediaeval Archaeology was long influenced by traditional narratives related to so-called Völkerwanderungen. Based on the interpretation of ancient written sources, the “Migration Period” was traditionally perceived as a time of catastrophic changes triggered by the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and massive migration waves of “barbarian” groups across Europe. In the last decades, isotope analyses have been increasingly used to test these traditional narratives by exploring past mobility patterns, shifts in dietary habits, and changes in subsistence strategies or in socio-economic structures among early medieval societies. To evaluate the achievements of isotope studies in understanding the complexity of the so-called Migration Period, this paper presents a review of 50 recent publications. Instead of re-analysing the data per se, this review first explores the potentials and limitations of the various approaches introduced in the last decades. In a second step, an analysis of the interpretations presented in the reviewed studies questions to what extend traditional expectations are supported by isotope data from the Migration Period. Beside revising the concept of massive migrations, isotope data reveal so-far underestimated mobility patterns and open new perspectives in the investigation of early medieval world.

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Food and Power in Early Medieval England: a Lack of (Isotopic) Enrichment

Cited by 5 publications

References 112 publications

First archaeological evidence for ginger consumption as a potential medicinal ingredient in a late medieval leprosarium at St Leonard, Peterborough, England

First archaeological evidence for ginger consumption as a potential medicinal ingredient in a late medieval leprosarium at St Leonard, Peterborough, England

Alternative protein innovations and challenges for industry and consumer: an initial overview

Isotope data in Migration Period archaeology: critical review and future directions

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