RT Journal Article
T1 Diet and food strategies in a southern al-Andalusian urban environment during Caliphal period, ecija, Sevilla
A1 Inskip, Sara
A1 Carroll, Gina
A1 Waters Rist, Andrea
A1 López Costas, Olalla
K1 Al-Andalus
K1 Islamic archaeology
K1 Isotope
K1 Medieval
K1 Apatite
K1 Collagen
AB The Iberian medieval period is unique in European history due to the widespread socio-cultural changes that took place after thearrival of Arabs, Berbers and Islam in 711 AD. Recently, isotopic research has been insightful on dietary shifts, status, resourceavailability and the impact of environment. However, there is no published isotopic research exploring these factors in southernIberian populations, and as the history of this area differs to the northern regions, this leaves a significant lacuna in ourknowledge. This research fills this gap via isotopic analysis of human (n = 66) and faunal (n = 13) samples from the 9th to the13th century Écija, a town renowned for high temperatures and salinity. Stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopes wereassessed from rib collagen, while carbon (δ13C) values were derived from enamel apatite. Human diet is consistent with C3 plantconsumption with a very minor contribution of C4 plants, an interesting feature considering the suitability of Écija to C4 cerealproduction. δ15N values vary among adults, which may suggest variable animal protein consumption or isotopic variation withinanimal species due to differences in foddering. Consideration of δ13C collagen and apatite values together may indicate sugarcaneconsumption, while moderate δ15N values do not suggest a strong aridity or salinity effect. Comparison with other Iberian groupsshows similarities relating to time and location rather than by religion, although more multi-isotopic studies combined withzooarchaeology and botany may reveal subtle differences unobservable in carbon and nitrogen collagen studies alone.
PB Springer
SN 1866-9557
YR 2018
FD 2018
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10347/21058
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10347/21058
LA eng
NO Inskip, S., Carroll, G., Waters-Rist, A. et al. Diet and food strategies in a southern al-Andalusian urban environment during Caliphal period, Écija, Sevilla. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 11, 3857–3874 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0694-7
NO OLC is funded by Plan Galego I2C mod.B (ED481D 2017/014). The research was partially funded by the projects “Galician Paleodiet” and by Consiliencia network (ED 431D2017/08) Xunta de Galicia
DS Minerva
RD 30 abr 2026