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dc.contributor.authorCurtis-Summers, Shirley
dc.contributor.authorPearson, J.A.
dc.contributor.authorLamb, A.L.
dc.date.accessioned2020-06-02T12:48:31Z
dc.date.accessioned2020-06-23T09:18:12Z
dc.date.available2020-06-02T12:48:31Z
dc.date.available2020-06-23T09:18:12Z
dc.date.issued2020-06
dc.identifier.citationCurtis-Summers S, Pearson JA and Lamb AL (2020) From Picts to Parish: Stable isotope evidence of dietary change at medieval Portmahomack, Scotland. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 31: 102303.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10454/17857
dc.descriptionYes
dc.description.abstractIn this study, period-specific dietary trends, along with socio-economic and religious influences on foods consumed by Pictish and medieval inhabitants from Portmahomack are investigated. Bone collagen from human adults (n = 137) and fauna (n = 71) were analysed for stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios to enable dietary reconstructions of the whole adult skeletal assemblage. Adult mean δ13C and δ15N values from all periods (6th to 17th century) were −19.5‰ ± 1.3‰ and 13.3‰ ± 1.7‰ respectively. A diachronic change in diet between early medieval Pictish lay and monastic communities (periods 1–3) and the later medieval parish layfolk (periods 4–5) was found that suggests changing socio-economic and religious influences, along with age and gender differences in diet that reflect possible divisions in labour and status. Faunal data also reflected a diachronic change in diet, most likely related to a change in animal husbandry practices over time. This is the first large-scale study on the Portmahomack assemblage and presents new isotope data to provide a more comprehensive insight into Pictish and medieval subsistence patterns, along with evidence of how religious and social foci may influence diet over time. Such comprehensive investigations can only be adopted by analysing the whole skeletal assemblage, providing robust faunal baselines and inter- and intra-site comparisons. Most importantly, this significant new evidence fundamentally changes our knowledge of diet and subsistence in medieval Scotland and the potential influences therein.
dc.description.sponsorshipSupported by grants from the NERC Isotope Geosciences Facility Steering Committee (IP‐1302‐0512), the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AH/I019103/1), and Historic Scotland (AMJ/4208/4).
dc.language.isoen
dc.rights© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
dc.subjectPalaeodiet
dc.subjectCarbon
dc.subjectNitrogen
dc.subjectStable isotopes
dc.subjectBone collagen
dc.subjectPicts
dc.subjectMedieval
dc.titleFrom Picts to Parish: Stable isotope evidence of dietary change at medieval Portmahomack, Scotland
dc.status.refereedYes
dc.date.application2020-04-27
dc.typeArticle
dc.type.versionAccepted manuscript
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102303
dc.rights.licenseCC-BY-NC-ND
dc.date.updated2020-06-02T11:48:37Z
refterms.dateFOA2020-06-23T09:19:05Z
dc.openaccess.statusopenAccess
dc.date.accepted2020-03-10


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