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Stable Isotope Evidence for Dietary Contrast Between Pictish and Medieval Populations at Portmahomack, Scotland

No / The Pictish and Medieval site at Portmahomack contained four skeletal populations belonging respectively to the late Iron-Age/early Pictish period (6th/7th century), to a monastery of the late
Pictish/early medieval period (8th century), to a Norse and Scottish trading place (9th to 11th century)
and to a late medieval parish (15th century). Carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of bone and tooth root
collagen from sample individuals from each period were measured for dietary reconstruction. Faunal bone
collagen was also assessed to provide dietary comparisons. The results demonstrate a marked change in diet
between the early and late medieval communities at Portmahomack. Faunal data also presented dietary
differences between the early and later medieval periods, perhaps related to a change in husbandry
practices. Due to the dearth of carbon and nitrogen isotope studies on medieval skeletal collections in
many areas of Britain and Ireland, this study provides valuable data to enhance our knowledge of food
consumption and subsistence in the medieval period. / Historic Scotland provided funding the isotope analysis

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/17602
Date13 January 2020
CreatorsCurtis-Summers, Shirley, Montgomery, Janet, Carver, M.
Source SetsBradford Scholars
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeArticle, Accepted manuscript
Rights© 2014 Taylor & Francis. The Version of Record of this manuscript has been published and is available in Medieval Archaeology Sep 2014 http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1179/0076609714Z.00000000030., Unspecified

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