An Exploration into Ancient Human Diet Using Stable Isotopes from Helminth Eggs

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In South Korea, the Baekje Kingdom (18 BCE – 660 CE) is well-known for maritime trade with Japan and China. Despite ample historical texts and archaeological data, the subsistence economies of the local groups within the Baekje Kingdom are relatively unknown. The region’s highly acidic soil is a major impediment to archaeological research because it readily breaks down organic materials hindering our understanding ancient human diets. While human remains are not usually preserved, Korean paleoparasitologists have found intestinal worm (helminth) eggs in ancient fecal and soil samples from Baekje contexts. Currently, analyses involving ancient helminth eggs focus solely on species identification using microscopy and aDNA of the highly preserved eggs. Marine scientists have studied modern endoparasites using stable isotope ratios to explore trophic relationships between the parasite and its host. Drawing inspiration from these three fields, I propose a methodology using stable isotope analysis of ancient helminth eggs as a proxy for human diet. Results from this study provide the opportunity to explore ancient Baekje’s subsistence economies and human lifeways.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37022.0