How Does Diet Influence Our Lives? Evaluating the Relationship between Isotopic Signatures and Mortality Patterns in Italian Roman Imperial and Medieval Periods.

The present research investigates the relationship between dietary habits and mortality patterns in the Roman Imperial and Medieval periods. The reconstructions of population dynamics and subsistence strategies provide a fascinating source of information for understanding our history. This is particularly true given that the changes in social, economic, political, and religious aspects related to the transition from the Roman period to the Middle Ages have been widely discussed. We analyzed the isotopic and mortality patterns of 616 individuals from 18 archeological sites (the Medieval Latium sites of Colonna, Santa Severa, Allumiere, Cencelle, and 14 Medieval and Imperial funerary contexts from Rome) to compile a survivorship analysis. A semi-parametric approach was applied, suggesting variations in mortality patterns between sexes in the Roman period. Nitrogen isotopic signatures influenced mortality in both periods, showing a quadratic and a linear effect for Roman Imperial and Medieval populations, respectively. No influence of carbon isotopic signatures has been detected for Roman Imperial populations. Conversely, increased mortality risk for rising carbon isotopic values was observed in Medieval samples.

A multidisciplinary approach for investigating dietary and medicinal habits of the Medieval population of Santa Severa (7th-15th centuries, Rome, Italy).

A multidisciplinary approach, combining stable isotope analysis from bone proteins and investigations on dental calculus using DNA analysis, light microscopy, and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, was applied to reconstruct dietary and medicinal habits of the individuals recovered in the cemetery of the Castle of Santa Severa (7th-15th centuries CE; Rome, Italy). Stable isotope analysis was performed on 120 humans, 41 faunal specimens and 8 charred seeds. Dental calculus analyses were carried out on 94 samples. Overall, isotope data indicated an omnivorous diet based on C3-terrestrial protein, although some individuals possessed carbon values indicative of C4 plant consumption. In terms of animal protein, the diet was probably based on cattle, sheep, pig and chicken products, as witnessed by the archaeozoological findings. Evidence from calculus suggested the consumption of C3 cereals, Fabaceae, Fagaceae, milk and dairy products. Secondary metabolites of herbs and wine were also detected. The detection of marine fish ancient DNA, as well as of ω3 fatty acids in calculus, hypothesized the consumption of marine foodstuffs for this coastal population, despite the lack of a clear marine isotopic signal and the presence of polyunsaturated fatty acids in plant tissues. Moreover, the knowledge of ethnopharmacological tradition and the application of medicinal plants (e.g. Punica granatum L., Ephedra sp. L.) were also identified. The detection of artemisinin, known to have antimalarial properties, led to hypothesize the presence of malaria in the area. Altogether, the combined application of microscopy and biomolecular techniques provided an innovative reconstruction of Medieval lifeways in Central Italy.

Sex selection in late Iberian infant burials: Integrating evidence from morphological and genetic data.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to analyze the infant burials found inside Iberian homes in relation to a possible case of sex selection. METHODS: The study included the remains of 11 infant individuals buried under the 10 houses excavated in the late Iberian village of Camp de les Lloses (Tona, Barcelona, Spain). Sex was determined using genetic analysis. RESULTS: Our results showed that almost all the burials were females. However, the age interval of death was wide enough to weaken the premise of infanticide, and the burials probably represent cases of natural death. DISCUSSION: Infanticide in its different forms has long been argued as an explanation for the infant remains found throughout various burial sites. Many authors thought that infanticide, mainly femicide, was the main method of population control in ancient times. However, there is no anthropological evidence (age distribution and sex analyzed genetically) to support the intentional killing of females in this or in other cases. We hypothesized that there was a positive selection for females to be buried inside the houses, probably related to their benefactor roles.

Who were the miners of Allumiere? A multidisciplinary approach to reconstruct the osteobiography of an Italian worker community.

This research presents an in-depth study of the skeletal remains collected from the archaeological site of Allumiere (15th-16th centuries CE; Rome, Italy). A multidisciplinary approach was used, combining skeletal biology, molecular anthropology and archaeobotany with the aim of reconstructing the osteobiography of the alum miners buried at the site. Since 1460, the area of the Tolfa Mountains was significant for the exploitation of alum which was used for a wide range of purposes in the Middle Ages, ranging from woven production to medical practice. A total of 70 individuals (63 adults and 7 juveniles) were studied. The sex ratio of the community indicated a higher prevalence of males with respect to females. Morphological examination indicated occupational musculoskeletal stress markers, which might reflect the specific phase of alum production that each individual was occupied in. Dietary reconstruction was primarily performed through carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis with integration of the results obtained by microscopic, genetic and GC-MS investigations on dental calculus. The diet was omnivorous, indicating a reliance on C3-terrestrial protein and evidence for limited C4 consumption by some individuals. Herbivores, such as sheep and cattle, appear to have contributed to the diet more than pigs and chickens. Consumption of Fagaceae and Poaceae species was predominant; moreover, indicators of Brassicaceae and milk and its derivatives were abundantly recurrent in the population, followed by plant oils and theophylline. Furthermore, the detection of pharmacological alkaloids indicated the knowledge and application of medicinal plants by the community. The novel use of multiple techniques based on cutting-edge technologies has provided a unique window on the lifestyles of individuals from one of the first Italian settlements of alum workers.

Reconstruction of human subsistence and husbandry strategies from the Iberian Early Neolithic: A stable isotope approach.

OBJECTIVES: The Early Neolithic involved an important social and economic shift that can be tested not only with the material culture, but also through biomolecular approaches. The Iberian Peninsula presents few Early Neolithic sites where fauna and humans can be analyzed together from an isotopic perspective. Here we present an isotopic study on the site of Cueva de Chaves as an example for understanding the dietary and economical changes that took place during Early Neolithic in Iberia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Here we apply carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis to bone collagen from 4 humans and 64 faunal samples from 14 different species. The large dataset belongs to the same unique chrono-cultural context secured by 20 radiocarbon dates. Three direct new radiocarbon dates were carried out on the human remains analyzed. RESULTS: Faunal isotope values show no significant differences between wild and domestic herbivores, although the latter have more homogeneous values. Domestic pigs, potentially considered omnivorous, also show signatures of a herbivore diet. Human isotopic results show a diet mainly based on terrestrial C3 resources and possibly high meat consumption. The only individual found buried with a special funerary treatment presents a slightly different protein intake, when taking into account the long contemporaneous baseline analyzed. DISCUSSION: Similar values between wild and domestic species could be the result of common feeding resources and/or grazing on the same parts of the landscape. The herbivore diet seen amongst domestic pigs rules out feeding on household leftovers. High meat consumption by humans would support the hypothesis of the existence of a specialized animal husbandry management community in which agriculture was not intensively developed. Our results suggest that the development of agricultural practices and animal husbandry were not necessarily associated together in the early stages of the Western Mediterranean Neolithic.

Palaeodiet reconstruction in a woman with probable celiac disease: a stable isotope analysis of bone remains from the archaeological site of Cosa (Italy).

Stable isotope analysis in the reconstruction of human palaeodiets can yield clues to early human subsistence strategies, origins and history of farming and pastoralist societies, and intra- and intergroup social differentiation. In the last 10 years, the method has been extended to the pathological investigation. Stable isotope analysis to better understand a diet-related disease: celiac disease in ancient human bones was carried out. To do this, we analyzed the nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of human (n = 37) and faunal (n = 8) bone remains from the archaeological site of Cosa at Ansedonia, on the Tyrrhenian coast near Orbetello (Tuscany), including the skeletal remains of a young woman (late 1st century-early 2nd century Common Era [CE]) with morphological and genetic features suggestive of celiac disease. We compared the young woman's isotopic data with those of other individuals recovered at the same site but from two later time periods (6th century CE; 11-12th century CE) and with literature data from other Italian archaeological sites dating to the same period. Her collagen δ(13) C and δ(15) N values differed from those of the samples at the same site, and from most but not all of the contemporary sites. Although the woman's diet appears distinct, chronic malnutrition resulting from severe malabsorption of essential nutrients due to celiac disease may have affected the isotopic composition of her bone collagen.

Examining dietary variability of the earliest farmers of south-eastern Italy.

Stable isotope analysis of human remains has been used to address long-standing debates regarding the speed and degree to which the introduction of farming transformed diet. In Europe, this debate has centered on northern and Atlantic regions with much less attention devoted to the arrival of farming across the Mediterranean. This study presents carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses of collagen from 19 human and 37 faunal remains from eight sites in the Apulia and Marche regions of south-eastern and central Italy, dating to the early phases of agricultural adoption during the first half of the 6th Millennium BC. Where collagen preservation permitted, sulfur stable isotope analysis was also performed. Overall, there was significant isotopic variation between the different geographic regions, although there was also considerable uncertainty in interpreting these data, especially given heterogeneous isotope values for fauna from site to site. By considering isotope data from each region separately, it was noticeable that the degree of carbon isotope enrichment in humans compared to fauna was higher for individuals buried near the coast, consistent with increased marine consumption. Coastal individuals also had higher sulfur isotope values. Nitrogen isotope values were very variable between individuals and regions and, in some cases, were consistent with very high plant food consumption. Overall, early "farmers" in south-east and central Italy consumed a wide range of foods, including marine, and had much more variable stable isotope values than those observed in central and northern Europe during this period, perhaps indicating a different mode for agricultural adoption.

Stable isotopic evidence for diet at the Imperial Roman coastal site of Velia (1st and 2nd centuries AD) in Southern Italy.

Here we report on a stable isotope palaeodietary study of a Imperial Roman population interred near the port of Velia in Southern Italy during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses were performed on collagen extracted from 117 adult humans as well as a range of fauna to reconstruct individual dietary histories. For the majority of individuals, we found that stable isotope data were consistent with a diet high in cereals, with relatively modest contributions of meat and only minor contributions of marine fish. However, substantial isotopic variation was found within the population, indicating that diets were not uniform. We suggest that a number of individuals, mainly but not exclusively males, had greater access to marine resources, especially high trophic level fish. However, the observed dietary variation did not correlate with burial type, number of grave goods, nor age at death. Also, individuals buried at the necropolis at Velia ate much less fish overall compared with the contemporaneous population from the necropolis of Portus at Isola Sacra, located on the coast close to Rome. Marine and riverine transport and commerce dominated the economy of Portus, and its people were in a position to supplement their own stocks of fish with imported goods in transit to Rome, whereas at Velia marine exploitation existed side-by-side with land-based economic activities.

Genetic analysis of early holocene skeletal remains from Alaska and its implications for the settlement of the Americas.

Mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA were analyzed from 10,300-year-old human remains excavated from On Your Knees Cave on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska (Site 49-PET-408). This individual's mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) represents the founder haplotype of an additional subhaplogroup of haplogroup D that was brought to the Americas, demonstrating that widely held assumptions about the genetic composition of the earliest Americans are incorrect. The amount of diversity that has accumulated in the subhaplogroup over the past 10,300 years suggests that previous calibrations of the mtDNA clock may have underestimated the rate of molecular evolution. If substantiated, the dates of events based on these previous estimates are too old, which may explain the discordance between inferences based on genetic and archaeological evidence regarding the timing of the settlement of the Americas. In addition, this individual's Y-chromosome belongs to haplogroup Q-M3*, placing a minimum date of 10,300 years ago for the emergence of this haplogroup.