The importance of animal baselines: Using isotope analysis to compare diet in a British medieval hospital and lay population

Abstract

The results of carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis from two medieval populations are presented here, in a study investigating dietary habits within a medieval hospital population in England. A multi-methodological approach was taken in order to attempt to identify a distinct group diet within the medieval hospital of St Giles, Brough, Yorkshire, and examine the reasons why the dietary habits within the institution may have been noticeably different from that of a comparative lay population. Following the results and tentative conclusions of a study conducted by Müldner and Richards (2005), it was hypothesised that religious fasting rules would result in there being evidence of greater consumption marine fish at St. Giles than at the rural township of Box Lane, Pontefract, Yorkshire. While more dietary variation was found at the hospital, it can be seen that the differences in δ 13 C and δ 15 N isotope values vary in relation to the animal baselines. Thus, differences between the human populations can be attributed to geological and environmental factors as opposed to dietary differences. Highlights • We summarise evidence of diet in medieval towns, monasteries and hospitals. • δ 13 C and δ 15 N analysis was used to recreate the diet of two medieval populations. • Inter-population difference in isotope ratios was attributed to environmental baseline variation. • Social diversity may explain intra-population variation in individuals buried at St Giles.

Exploring diet in an isolated medieval rural community of Northern Iberia: The case study of San Baudelio de Berlanga (Soria, Spain)

“…Rib samples were only selected for isotopic analysis from the 20 individuals (13 males, 7 females) who were more complete and clearly anthropologically individualized: 8 males aged 20-40 years (young Animal isotopic data are essential to establish local isotopic baselines from which to reconstruct human dietary variations in time and space (Goude and Fontugne, 2016;Bownes et al, 2018). For this purpose, we also analyzed 11 samples from animals found at the medieval site of San Martín de Lantarón (Quirós Castillo, 2014), which has the same climate (Cfb in Köppen system) as San Baudelio (AEMET, 2011), although difficulties in the comparison of soils mean that results should be interpreted with caution (Bownes et al, 2018).…”

Last hunters–first farmers: new insight into subsistence strategies in the Central Balkans through multi-isotopic analysis

“…This approach first requires identifying stable isotope ratios of local baseline areas from the analysis of archaeological faunal remains (e.g. Britton et al 2008;Goude and Fontugne 2016;Bownes et al 2018).…”

Eating in silence: isotopic approaches to nuns’ diet at the convent of Santa Catalina de Siena (Belmonte, Spain) from the sixteenth to the twentieth century

“…Despite the relative availability of works dealing with religious communities' food and everyday life Richards 2005, 2007;Polet and Katzenberg 2003;Müldner et al 2009;Yoder 2012;Bownes et al 2018;Gregoricka and Guise Sheridan 2013;Quintelier et al 2014), they are almost exclusively focused on males-i.e. monks-and none was centred on monastic populations in Spain, meaning that the habits of cloistered nuns in Spain have so far been ignored in bioarchaeological research.…”