Yes / Abstract: The reconstruction of the diet of past populations using the stable isotope analysis of bone collagen
has become a well-established tool for examining their lifeways. For example, variations in foods
ingested can demonstrate differences in the foods available to individuals of different sex, age, status
and in some cases identifying migrants. However, because of the remodelling of bone throughout life,
this produces average values which have been incorporated in the tissues over a period of time and
gives a blurred picture of the diet. The analysis of the stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ13C) and
nitrogen (δ15N) from tiny increments of dentine utilizes tissue that does not remodel and that
permits comparison, at the same age, of those who survived infancy with those who did not at high
temporal resolution. Here, we present a study of teeth from a Great Famine period workhouse
cemetery in Kilkenny, Ireland, and a contemporary 19th-century cemetery in London, England and
compare these with published data from early Neolithic individuals from Sumburgh, Shetland,
Scotland. Covariation in δ13C and δ15N values suggests that even small variations have a
physiological basis. We show that high-resolution intra-dentine isotope profiles can pinpoint shortduration
events such as dietary change, and in the historical populations these can be related to
known periods of nutritional deprivation in the juvenile years of life. We further suggest that the data
from the Famine cemetery individuals suggest a physiological marker within these isotope profiles for
a period of nutritional deprivation which could be utilised in other periods and geographical areas,
particularly where there is a catastrophic cemetery assemblage with no known aetiology. This
technique could also have applications in a forensic setting.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/10425 |
| Date | 06 1900 |
| Creators | Beaumont, Julia, Montgomery, Janet |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Abstract, Published version |
| Rights | (c) 2014 The Authors. This is an Open Access abstract distributed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND license., CC-BY-NC-ND |
| Relation | http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/184502 |
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