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Libkovice is a village in the northwestern Czech Republic that was demolished at the end of the last century due to the expansion of a nearby mine. The former church cemetery has been a subject to bioarchaeological excavation and research, where some 850 burials from the 13th to the 19th Century have been discovered so far. With the application of stable isotope analysis, it has also been possible to uncover the dietary patterns of this exemplary rural Central European community, which was the aim of this study. The materials analysed here consist of samples from long bones of 56 burials and 18 animal bones discovered in Libkovice during the 2019/21 excavations. It has been employed stable carbon (δ13C) isotope analysis to determine the average contributions of foods derived from the C3 plants. Statistically significant differences were found between the analyzed fauna and human samples for nitrogen (F=47.4 p

Research using stable isotopes for the reconstruction of breastfeeding strategies are based on assumptions that have not yet been verified by experimental studies. Interpreting the results of isotope analysis is associated with a certain degree of uncertainty, mainly due to the lack of information on how isotopes are distributed in mothers, breast-fed and weaned offspring. Culinary practices also can affect the interpretation of isotope results. Considering positive correlation between oxygen isotope composition of drinking water and bone phosphates, experimental studies were carried out using rats as an animal model. The experiment showed that apatites of breast-fed offspring were enriched 1.6‰ in comparison to the values observed in their mothers. In the boiled water model, the difference was 1.8‰. On the basis of the animal model, it was estimated that the difference in 18O between mother and child in the human species may amount to approximately 2.7‰, and long-term intake of boiled liquid food and beverages will not compensate the difference. The experiment allowed observation of the effect of changes in isotope ratios to a change in trophic levels during breastfeeding and weaning, as well as the additional effect associated with the consumption of isotope enriched water during thermal treatment.