Publication details

High-resolution dietary reconstruction of victims of the 79 CE Vesuvius eruption at Herculaneum by compound-specific isotope analysis

Authors

SONCIN Silvia TALBOT Helen M NEVES FERNANDES Luis Ricardo HARRIS Alison MATTHEW von Tersch ROBSON Harry K BAKKER Jan K RICHTER Kristine K ALEXANDER Michelle ELLIS Steven THOMPSON Gill AMORETTI Valeria OSANNA Massimo CASO Marina SIRANO Francesco FATTORE Luciano COLONESE Andre C GARNSEY Peter BONDIOLI Luca CRAIG Oliver E

Year of publication 2021
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Science advances
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Arts

Citation
web https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abg5791
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abg5791
Keywords Acid Delta N-15 values; Ratio Mass-Spectrometry; Amino-Acids; Stable Carbon; Natural-Abundance; Trophic Level; Bone-Collagen; Olive oil; Nitrogen; Fractionation
Description The remains of those who perished at Herculaneum in 79 CE offer a unique opportunity to examine lifeways across an ancient community who lived and died together. Historical sources often allude to differential access to foodstuffs across Roman society but provide no direct or quantitative information. By determining the stable isotope values of amino acids from bone collagen and deploying Bayesian models that incorporate knowledge of protein synthesis, we were able to reconstruct the diets of 17 adults from Herculaneum with unprecedented resolution. Significant differences in the proportions of marine and terrestrial foods consumed were observed between males and females, implying that access to food was differentiated according to gender. The approach also provided dietary data of sufficient precision for comparison with assessments of food supply to modern populations, opening up the possibility of benchmarking ancient diets against contemporary settings where the consequences for health are better understood.

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