| 1. |
- Kjellström, Anna, et al.
(author)
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Dietary patterns and social structures in medieval Sigtuna, Sweden, as reflected in stable isotope values in human skeletal remains
- 2009
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In: Journal of Archaeological Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 0305-4403 .- 1095-9238. ; 36:12, s. 2689-2699
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Stable isotopes (delta C-13, delta N-15) have been studied in human burials from the medieval town Sigtuna in Sweden. Dietary patterns of 80 adult individuals were analyzed on three cemeteries representing the phases of establishment, prosperity and decline of the town. All analyzed individuals were radiocarbon dated. One of the cemeteries, Church 1, represents a population of higher social status than those at the other two cemeteries. The delta C-13 values are homogenous and showed that the protein intake was mainly of terrestrial origin in the whole population. delta N-15 values varies more and they may indicate a higher input of vegetables in the diet at one of the cemeteries, the Nunnan block. Already in the initial phases of Sigtuna a social hierarchy had been established which is reflected in dietary patterns. Apparently more animal protein was consumed among the high status population of the town. Furthermore, differences in dietary patterns between the sexes were noted. In all phases the females show more clustered values indicating a more homogeneous diet than that of the males.
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| 3. |
- Eriksson, Gunilla, et al.
(author)
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Same island, different diet : Cultural evolution of food practice on Öland, Sweden, from the Mesolithic to the Roman Period
- 2008
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In: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0278-4165 .- 1090-2686. ; 27:4, s. 520-543
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in north-west Europe has been described as rapid and uniform, entailing a swift shift from the use of marine and other wild resources to domesticated terrestrial resources. Here, we approach the when, what and how of this transition on a regional level, using empirical data from Öland, an island in the Baltic Sea off the Swedish east coast, and also monitor changes that occurred after the shift. Radiocarbon dating and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of bones and teeth from 123 human individuals, along with faunal isotope data from 27 species, applying to nine sites on Öland and covering a time span from the Mesolithic to the Roman Period, demonstrate a great diversity in food practices, mainly governed by culture and independent of climatic changes. There was a marked dietary shift during the second half of the third millennium from a mixed marine diet to the use of exclusively terrestrial resources, interpreted as marking the large-scale introduction of farming. Contrary to previous claims, this took place at the end of the Neolithic and not at the onset. Our data also show that culturally induced dietary transitions occurred continuously throughout prehistory. The availability of high-resolution data on various levels, from intra-individual to inter-population, makes stable isotope analysis a powerful tool for studying the evolution of food practices.
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| 6. |
- Linderholm, Anna, et al.
(author)
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Cryptic Contamination and Phylogenetic Nonsense
- 2008
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In: PloS one. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 3:5, s. e2316-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Ancient human DNA has been treated cautiously ever since the problems related to this type of material were exposed in the early 1990s, but as sequential genetic data from ancient specimens have been key components in several evolutionary and ecological studies, interest in ancient human DNA is on the increase again. It is especially tempting to approach archaeological and anthropological questions through this type of material, but DNA from ancient human tissue is notoriously complicated to work with due to the risk of contamination with modern human DNA. Various ways of authenticating results based on ancient human DNA have been developed to circumvent the problems. One commonly used method is to predict what the contamination is expected to look like and then test whether the ancient human DNA fulfils this prediction. If it does, the results are rejected as contamination, while if it does not, they are often considered authentic. We show here that human contamination in ancient material may well deviate from local allele frequencies or the distributions to be found among the laboratory workers and archaeologists. We conclude that it is not reliable to authenticate ancient human DNA solely by showing that it is different from what would be expected from people who have handled the material.
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| 7. |
- Linderholm, Anna, et al.
(author)
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Diet and status in Birka : stable isotopes and grave goods compared
- 2008
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In: Antiquity. - 0003-598X .- 1745-1744. ; 82:316, s. 446-461
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper the authors investigate isotopic signatures of burials from the famous Viking period cemetery at Birka in Sweden, comparing their results on diet with the status and identities of individuals as interpreted from grave goods. These first observations offer a number of promising correlations, for example the shared diet of a group of women associated with trade, and a marine emphasis among men buried with weapons.
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| 8. |
- Linderholm, Anna, 1972-
(author)
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Migration in Prehistory : DNA and stable isotope analyses of Swedish skeletal material
- 2008
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The main aim of this thesis is to show how scientific methods may be used to look at migration in prehistory on the basis of archaeological material. The individuals examined represent the period 4 000 BC to 1 000 AD and have their geographical origins in various parts of Sweden.Ancient DNA analysis is employed in three cases. The first is an investigation of the genetic profiles of the two main cultural groups, which existed in Sweden during the Neolithic, the Funnel Beaker (TRB) and Pitted Ware (PWC) cultures. We can deduce from these genetic data that they were two separate populations, and can see that the TRB genetic profiles continue into the Bronze Age whereas the PWC profiles seem to disappear. In a second analysis based on the same material we explore the ability of adults to digest milk, i.e. lactose tolerance, a genetic trait found in high frequencies in northern Europe. We can see that the TRB population had a higher frequency of this allele than the PWC population. The last paper based on aDNA analysis tackles a very important topic, that of contamination, which has to be understood and recognised, as it is fundamental to such analyses.Stable isotope analysis lies behind the remaining papers, in three of which sulphur isotope analysis is used on skeletal material from Rössberga, Birka and Björned. The individuals buried at Rössberga appear to have been of local origin, in contrast to those buried at Birka and Björned. At Birka separate geographical origins can be deduced for individuals buried in different cemeteries or having different occupations. Whereas the people buried at Björned seem to have come there from different regions in order to establish a Christian colony. In the study on Öland, were the stable isotopes δ13C and δ15N were analysed in order to identify diet and the dietary shift connected with the Neolithic transition, this transition was found at the end of the Neolithic rather than at the beginning as previously hypothesised.
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