Uniform diet in a diverse society. Revealing new dietary evidence of the Danish Roman Iron Age based on stable isotope analysis

A systematic dietary investigation during Danish Roman Iron Age (1-375AD) is conducted by analyzing stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ(13) C) and nitrogen (δ(15) N) in the collagen of human and animal bone. The human sample comprises 77 individuals from 10 burial sites. In addition 31 samples of mammals and fish were analyzed from same geographical area. The investigation characterizes the human diet among different social groupings and analyses dietary differences present between sex, age, and site phase groups. Diachronically, the study investigates the Roman influences that had an effect on social structure and subsistence economy in both the Early and Late Period. Geographically the locations are both inland and coastal. The isotopic data indicate extremely uniform diet both between and within population groups from Early and Late Roman periods and the data are consistent throughout the Roman Iron Age. Protein consumption was dominated by terrestrial animals with no differences among social status, age, sex, or time period, while terrestrial plant protein only seems to have contributed little in the diet. Furthermore, the consumption of marine or aquatic resources does not seem to have been important, even among the individuals living next to the coast.