Sociopolitical and Environmental Change and its Effect on the Biology of a Medieval Polish Population through Isotopic Analysis

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Life and Death in Medieval Central Europe" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Late Medieval to Early Modern periods in Poland underwent a shift toward a feudal sociopolitical structure and experienced environmental changes leading to an increase in social stratification and an unequal distribution of power, opportunity, and resources (e.g., food). This project examines how a non-elite Polish population biologically responded during periods of significant sociopolitical change using molecular and skeletal analysis of human skeletal remains, correlated with historical documentation. Cemeteries from the Late Medieval village of Gać (fourteenth–sixteenth centuries) and Early Modern village of Pień (seventeenth–eighteenth centuries) comprise non-elite individuals. The proximity of these villages to nearby centers and the potential for involvement in complex economic exchange networks make the sites ideal to examine the complex interplay between biology and culture. Preliminary data investigates how serfdom and global cooling impacted dietary access to traditional food sources, including terrestrial/marine protein and C3-based crops (e.g., wheat, barley). This study presents analyses of strontium and oxygen isotopes to distinguish between “migrants” and “residents” and carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes to assess diet. It is hypothesized that diet will differ between migrants and residents and there will be less access to traditional protein sources and an increase in C4 (millet) consumption for residents.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Life and Death in Medieval Central Europe   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39532.0