An Osteological and Isotopic Assessment of Diet at Ancient Corinth and Ancient Paphos

Summary

Corinth and Paphos were two key centers of the ancient Mediterranean during the Hellenistic and Roman eras. While the commercial and political lives if these communities have been studied, less is known about aspects of day to day life such as diet and health. Here we present some insights based on paleopathology and collagen stable isotope analysis.

This study (n = 275 individuals for Paphos; 94 individuals for Corinth) suggests populations that were under a certain amount of stress. Mean statures were relatively low, and rates of cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis suggest that periods of dietary deficiency were fairly common.

Collagen stable isotope values were obtained for 34 humans and 17 comparative fauna from Corinth. Due to preservation issues, only six human values are available for Paphos. These are similar to those found for Corinth, suggesting a broadly similar diet at the two sites. Overall the human collagen values show a distinctive pattern of low δ13C and high δ15N compared to human values observed elsewhere in Greece. Carbon routing models and documentary evidence suggest that this pattern may reflect a largely grain- and oil-based diet whose modest protein component included marine products such as dried fish and garum.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21942