Stable Isotope Analysis on Human Skeletal Remains from the Edo-period Fushimi Castle Site in Japan

Nagaoka

Kakinuma

et al. 2016

Individual dietary differences (e.g. sex, age, period, and region) among townspeople during the Edo period are unclear, although the historical literature describes the general dietary menu. We ap plied carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses to 103 adult human skeletons excavated from the IkenohataShichikencho site of the Edo period (late 17th to late 19th century AD) in Japan to investigate individual dietary differences among townspeople in the city of Edo. The mean carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of Ikenohata townspeople were -19.7 ± 0.4‰ and 10.8 ± 0.7‰, respectively, which sug gests that C 3 -based terrestrial foods, freshwater fish, and marine fish were their main dietary protein sources. Intra-population comparisons indicated no significant difference among individuals of different sexes, age categories, and chronological periods, with the exception of a sex difference in carbon isotope ratios (0.37‰) during the Middle-Late period (last half of 18th century). Comparison of the Ikenohata data with the results of previous studies revealed significant isotopic differences in skeletal populations of the same social class (up to 1.33‰ for nitrogen) and same Edo city (up to 1.64‰ for nitrogen). Al though these differences were relatively small in terms of stable isotope ecology, dietary food sources for people during the Edo period would differ to some extent by their social class and geographic region of residence.

Section: Intra-population Differencessupporting

confidence: 73%

Section: Intra-population Differencesmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The diet of townspeople in the city of Edo: carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses of human skeletons from the Ikenohata-Shichikencho site

Nagaoka

Kakinuma

et al. 2016

“…The stable isotope ratios in bone collagen reflect those of the protein fraction of the diet (Tieszen and Fagre, 1993). By considering these factors, the palaeodiet, especially for dietary protein sources, can be reconstructed by measuring the stable isotope ratios of human skeletal collagen (e.g., Yoneda et al, 2004;Kusaka et al, 2011;Tsutaya et al, 2016a).…”

Section: Stable Isotope Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the diet of townspeople in the Edo period (AD 1603(AD -1867 in Japan has been reconstructed in detail, the diet of ordinary people living in villages has not been studied in similar depth. Historical (Hanley, 1997;Ehara et al, 2009;Harada, 2009), archaeological (Vaporis, 1998), and bioarchaeological (Kusaka et al, 2011;Tsutaya et al, 2016a;Maruyama et al, 2018) studies have revealed that the diet of ordinary people in the Edo period mainly comprised C 3 crops, such as rice and vegetables, and fishes and poultry were sometimes consumed. However, most of this evidence has come from larger cities, such as Edo (present-day Tokyo), Osaka, and Kyoto, and the everyday diet of people living in villages is not well documented.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur stable isotopic reconstruction of human diet in a mountainous woodland village in Sendaiji in premodern Japan

Yoneda

Abe

et al. 2019

The reconstruction of everyday diets in villages is important for understanding the diversity of diets and commerce networks of food items in premodern Japan. However, premodern diets in villages have not been well studied compared with those in cities. In this study, stable isotope analyses were performed on 23 adult human skeletons excavated from Sendaiji, a mountainous woodland village of underground Christians in Osaka in premodern Japan. No significant isotopic differences was found between individuals identified as Buddhists and those identified as Christians or between females and males. The total mean carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur isotope ratios were-21.1 ± 0.4‰, 11.6 ± 1.0‰, and 8.9 ± 1.3‰, respectively. The carbon isotope ratios in Sendaiji were the lowest among the studied premodern populations probably because these individuals consumed woodland foods that are affected by the canopy effect. No significant correlation between sulfur and nitrogen isotope ratios was apparent, suggesting that there was little contribution from marine foods or marine fertilizers to the diet of individuals in premodern Sendaiji. The relatively high nitrogen isotope ratios in Sendaiji were possibly because of the denitrification in paddy rice fields, ammonium uptake by paddy rice, use of animal fertilizers, and/ or consumption of freshwater fish. To our knowledge, this is the first detailed bioarchaeological study of the premodern diet in a mountainous village in western Japan.

Stable isotopic reconstructions of adult diets and infant feeding practices during urbanization of the city of Edo in 17th century Japan

American J Phys Anthropol

Nagaoka

Sawada

et al. 2013

The urbanization of the city of Edo, the capital of premodern Japan, has been assumed to be not as a result of natural increase but that of in-migration although this assumption has never been verified. To obtain information on natural fertility in Edo, we analyzed stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in 46 adult and 84 subadult human skeletons excavated from the Hitotsubashi site (1657-1683 AD: the early Edo period), Tokyo, Japan and reconstructed their breastfeeding period, one of the most important determinants of fertility. Adult females are significantly more depleted in (15) N by 0.7‰ than adult males, suggesting a dietary differentiation between sexes and/or the effect of pregnancy. The changes in the nitrogen isotope ratios of subadults suggest that supplementary foods were introduced around the age of 0.2 years and weaning ended around 3.1 years, which agrees with descriptions in various historical documents of the period. The duration of breastfeeding in the Hitotsubashi population was relatively longer than those in modern industrial and traditional societies and four previously reported populations in medieval and in the industrial England. As later weaning closely associates with longer inter-birth interval for mothers, our data suggest a lower natural fertility for the Hitotsubashi population. Assuming that the proportion of married people was also lower in the major cities of the earlier Edo period, our results support the assumption that Edo developed and increased its population by attracting immigrants during urbanization.