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The Black Death is the most reknown pandemic in human history, believed by many to have killed half of Europe's population. However, despite the advances in ancient DNA research that allowed for the successful identification of the pandemic's causative agent (bacterium Yersinia pestis), our knowledge of the Black Death is still limited, based primarily on medieval texts available for single areas of Western Europe. In our study we remedy this situation and we focus in particular on the scale of the Black Death mortality. We collected data on landscape change from 261 coring sites (lakes and wetlands) located in 19 European countries. We used two independent methods of analysis to evaluate whether the changes we see in the landscape at the time of the Black Death agree with the hypothesis that half of the population died within a single year in each of the 21 regions we studied. We discovered that while the Black Death had devastating impact in some regions, it had negligible or no impact in others. The inter-regional differences in the Black Death mortality across Europe demonstrate the significance of cultural, ecological, economic and climatic factors that mediate the dissemination and impact of the disease. The complex interplay of these factors, along with the identification of the pathogen that caused disease outbreaks, should be the focus of future research on historical pandemics.

We compiled data from histological sources on the formation ages for human mandibular and maxillary permanent first molars, lateral and central incisors and canines. From this we summarised the data by reporting weighted means for cusp initiation, crown completion and apex completion. This provides a reference for bioarchaeological and medical studies investigating early childhood. More specifically, this reference is a crucial element in the study of early childhood nutrition and morbidity from osteological analysis and stable isotope analyses of teeth and their growth increments. Specifications Table Value of the Data 1. Data Description 2. Experimental Design, Materials and Methods

We present the first study employing Bayesian modelling of isotopic measurements on dentine increments (five human upper first molars) to address Romano-British infant feeding practices at Bainesse (UK). The stable carbon and nitrogen isotope results modelled to six-month intervals with novel OsteoBioR software, revealed some common patterns, with weaning not starting before the age of six months and higher animal protein consumption after the age of seven. The latter possibly indicated a ?survival? threshold, evidenced by historical sources and osteological data, hence marking a rise in social status of children. The important role of Bainesse as commercial hub in relation to the fort of Cataractonium does not exclude a priori the possibility that medical treatises and Roman culture were known at the site. However, our results also showed significant intra-individual differences with weaning cessation taking place between two and five years, suggesting that these were followed only partially and other aspects influenced family decisions on infant feeding practices in Bainesse. 1 Introduction 2 Material and methods 3 Results 4 Contextualising roman sources on childhoos and non-adult data at Bainesse 5 Conclusion

The Middle Ages (c. 500 to 1500 CE) is a formative period of European history. It was marked by major transformations in political and economic systems, vast population movements, violent armed conflicts, climate change, development of religious movements, and technological innovations, albeit with regional variations1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. The study of such historical phenomena has been predominantly based on written sources although these may vary in quality and representativity10. In particular, the lifestyles of lower socioeconomic classes are often mis- or under-represented given their illiteracy. Knowledge gaps can be reduced by isotopic analyses of human remains from which it becomes possible to build iso-biographies describing the diets and spatial mobility of single individuals from across socioeconomic, religious, and cultural spectra11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29. Isotopic analyses of animal and plant remains have also been employed in medieval contexts to reconstruct past climatic and environmental conditions plus to investigate economic and agricultural activities30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43. In the late 1970’s, stable carbon isotope analysis of human remains was first employed for paleo-diet reconstruction44,45. Since then, the use of isotopic methods in archaeological research has expanded following several developments in isotope ratio mass spectrometry methods and lab pretreatment protocols that increased the number of measurable isotopic ratios across a wide variety of materials46,47,48. Such developments have allowed for a larger number of applications in archaeological research and for more accurate and precise assessments of past phenomena. The reconstruction of past human subsistence, nutrition and spatial mobility, the study of past animal and crop management practices, or the reconstruction of paleo-environments and -climates are just some examples that illustrate the importance of isotopic methods in archaeological research49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57. This is also evident from the exponential growth in recent decades in the number of archaeological publications reporting isotopic results58. Once collected and curated, amassed isotopic data can be subject to meta-analyses from which it is possible to investigate past human and natural phenomena at varying spatial and temporal scales59,60,61. Recent databases have partially compiled isotopic data for the European medieval world62,63. Here we present the open-access CIMA (Compendium Isotoporum Medii Aevi) database, the first isotopic database to comprise the full extent of the medieval period across the entirety of Europe and its margins. This database also includes for the first time all types of bioarchaeological remains (plants, animals, and humans) and isotopic measurements (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S, δ18O, and 87Sr/86Sr) on bulk organic remains and on tooth increments. To address various historical questions, CIMA includes metadata that characterizes the political, religious, and social context of listed samples. Here we describe CIMA and briefly illustrate its research potential.