The influence of religious identity and socio-economic status on diet over time, an example from medieval France

In Southern France as in other parts of Europe, significant changes occurred in settlement patterns between the end of Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. Small communities gathered to form, by the tenth century, villages organized around a church. This development was the result of a new social and agrarian organization. Its impact on lifestyles and, more precisely, on diet is still poorly understood. The analysis of carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bone collagen from the inhabitants of the well-preserved medieval rural site Missignac-Saint Gilles le Vieux (fifth to thirteenth centuries, Gard, France) provides insight into their dietary practices and enables a discussion about its transformation over time. A sample of 152 adult individuals dated from 675 to 1175 AD (75 females, 77 males) and 75 specimens from 16 non-human species were analyzed. Results show the exploitation of freshwater, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems as well as various breeding practices specific to each species. The use of both C4 and halophyte plants for feeding domestic animals was also observed. Concerning human dietary practices, a change seemed to occur at the beginning of the tenth century with an increase of δ15N values and a decrease of δ13C values. This corresponds to the introduction of a significant amount of freshwater resources into the diet and could be related to the evolution of the Catholic doctrine. A concomitant diversification of access to individual food resources was also observed, probably linked to the increased diversity of practice inside a population otherwise perceived as one community

A Weakened Transcriptional Enhancer Yields Variegated Gene Expression

Identical genes in the same cellular environment are sometimes expressed differently. In some cases, including the immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) locus, this type of differential gene expression has been related to the absence of a transcriptional enhancer. To gain additional information on the role of the IgH enhancer, we examined expression driven by enhancers that were merely weakened, rather than fully deleted, using both mutations and insulators to impair enhancer activity. For this purpose we used a LoxP/Cre system to place a reporter gene at the same genomic site of a stable cell line. Whereas expression of the reporter gene was uniformly high in the presence of the normal, uninsulated enhancer and undetectable in its absence, weakened enhancers yielded variegated expression of the reporter gene; i.e., the average level of expression of the same gene differed in different clones, and expression varied significantly among cells within individual clones. These results indicate that the weakened enhancer allows the reporter gene to exist in at least two states. Subtle aspects of the variegation suggest that the IgH enhancer decreases the average duration (half-life) of the silent state. This analysis has also tested the conventional wisdom that enhancer activity is independent of distance and orientation. Thus, our analysis of mutant (truncated) forms of the IgH enhancer revealed that the 250 bp core enhancer was active in its normal position, ∼1.4 kb 3′ of the promoter, but inactive ∼6 kb 3′, indicating that the activity of the core enhancer was distance-dependent. A longer segment – the core enhancer plus ∼1 kb of 3′ flanking material, including the 3′ matrix attachment region – was active, and the activity of this longer segment was orientation-dependent. Our data suggest that this 3′ flank includes binding sites for at least two activators

The place of millet in food globalization during Late Prehistory as evidenced by new bioarchaeological data from the Caucasus

Two millets, Panicum miliaceum and Setaria italica, were domesticated in northern China, around 6000 BC. Although its oldest evidence is in Asia, possible independent domestication of these species in the Caucasus has often been proposed. To verify this hypothesis, a multiproxy research program (Orimil) was designed to detect the first evidence of millet in this region. It included a critical review of the occurrence of archaeological millet in the Caucasus, up to Antiquity; isotopic analyses of human and animal bones and charred grains; and radiocarbon dating of millet grains from archaeological contexts dated from the Early Bronze Age (3500–2500 BC) to the 1st Century BC. The results show that these two cereals were cultivated during the Middle Bronze Age (MBA), around 2000–1800 BC, especially Setaria italica which is the most ancient millet found in Georgia. Isotopic analyses also show a significant enrichment in 13C in human and animal tissues, indicating an increasing C4 plants consumption at the same period. More broadly, our results assert that millet was not present in the Caucasus in the Neolithic period. Its arrival in the region, based on existing data in Eurasia, was from the south, without excluding a possible local domestication of Setaria italica

Rethinking journalism practice through innovative approaches to post conflict reporting

Journalism has a long history of interviewing vulnerable people caught up in natural disasters, conflict or tragedy. While it is widely recognised that journalists have an important role to play in telling the stories of those traumatised by such events, the concepts of ‘peace journalism’ or ‘journalism of attachment’ have often elicited a negative reaction in traditional journalistic circles. Drawing on the authors’ research project working with young people embroiled in Colombia’s civil conflict, this paper sets out an alternative and innovative approach to the retelling of the stories of others. It outlines how the research team engaged with the young people, some of whom had operated as child soldiers before Colombia’s peace accord with FARC rebels, and encouraged them to narrate their own stories in their own style. Through a series of workshops, the team experimented with oral and visual representations of their experiences, staying close to their accounts, enabling their voices to be heard. The participants combined traditional narrative with animation to produce a short documentary setting out their hopes for peace and reconciliation. This project, with its focus on immersion and listening, offers an alternative approach for journalists trying to relay the experiences of traumatised individuals marginalised in society as a result of their participation in the armed conflict. While the project was located in the specific context of Colombia, the paper argues that the journalistic approaches used could be applied more widely to the reporting of trauma in post conflict or marginalised communities

Mixed marriages and transnational families in the intercultural context : a case study of African-Spanish couples in Catalonia, Spain

Premi a l'excel·lència investigadora. Àmbit de les Ciències Socials. 2008One of the consequences of international migration and the permanent settlement of immigrants in southern EU countries is the growing number of inter-country marriages and the formation of transnational families. Using both quantitative and qualitative data, this article examines patterns of endogamy and exogamy (i.e. marriage within/outside a particular group or category) among African immigrants in Catalonia, focusing on bi-national Senegalese- and Gambian-Spanish couples. Socio-demographic profiles, transnationality, the dynamics of cultural change or retention, and the formation of transcultural identities are explored. The evidence presented suggests that social-class factors are more important than cultural origins in patterns of endogamy and exogamy, in the dynamics of living together and in the bringing-up of children of mixed unions. Such a conclusion negates culturalists' explanations of endogamy and exogamy while, at the same time, emphasising the role of social actors as active subjects in these processes. I further argue that mixed couples and their offspring deal-to a greater or lesser extent-with multiple localisations and cultural backgrounds (i.e. here and there), rather than experiencing a 'clash between two cultures'. Therefore, it would be a mistake to pretend that multicultural links do not exist and that they cannot be revitalised and functional. The paper starts and ends by addressing the complexities of processes of interculturalism, resisting an interpretation of hybridity and segregation as contradictory or exclusive realities

Comportements alimentaires durant l'Antiquité tardive en Gaule du Nord : l'exemple des sujets de la nécropole de l'Ilot de la Boucherie (IIIe-IVe siècles ap. J.-C., Amiens)

International audienceDuring Late Antiquity, Northern Gaul played an important role in the relations between the Roman Empire and the barbarian world. In order to better understand the lifestyles of these populations, and in particular their dietary practices, a broad isotope analysis (δ13C and δ15N) was undertaken on subjects from the Ilot de la Boucherie site in Amiens.We will present here the first results of this research concerning thirty-three subjects from this site as well as thirty-two subjects from three contemporary neighbouring sites and a corpus of twenty-eight specimens of domestic species.Comparison of the isotope values of human subjects with those of animals from the associated sites has revealed first of all a significant enrichment in 13C which could be the first documented isotopic evidence of millet consumption in ancient Europe. Secondly, the values obtained from δ15N are relatively low and suggest a regular consumption of legumes. Based on statistical studies, the sampled subjects seem to form a homogeneous group with regard to eating habits. The intra-individual study also determined that the majority of the subjects at the Ilot de la Boucherie site had the same diet during childhood and in adulthood. On the scale of the Roman Empire, this research has highlighted the singularity of the diet of the Northern Gauls, as the isotopic relationships between humans and the associated fauna are not found in any published site dating from this period. These results are an advance in the knowledge of the dietary habits of the inhabitants of Northern Gaul, which seem to differ from other late Antique populations already studied using isotope markers.Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)Durant la période de l'Antiquité Tardive, la Gaule du Nord joue un rôle important dans les relations entre l'Empire romain et le monde barbare. Afin de mieux comprendre les modes de vie de ces populations, et notamment leurs pratiques alimentaires, une large analyse isotopique (δ13C et δ15N) a été entreprise sur des sujets provenant du site de l'Ilot de la Boucherie, à Amiens.Nous présenterons ici les premiers résultats de cette recherche concernant trente-trois sujets de ce site ainsi que trente-deux sujets issus de trois sites voisins contemporains et un corpus de faune de vingt-huit spécimens d'espèces domestiques.La comparaison des valeurs isotopiques des sujets humains avec celles des animaux des sites associés a permis de mettre en évidence tout d'abord un enrichissement important en 13C qui pourrait être la première preuve documentée isotopiquement de consommation de millet pour la période antique en Europe. Ensuite les valeurs obtenues de δ15N sont relativement basses et laissent supposer une consommation régulière de légumineuses. D'après les études statistiques, les sujets échantillonnés semblent formés un groupe homogène en ce qui concerne les habitudes alimentaires. L'étude intra-individuelle a permis également de déterminer que la majorité des sujets du site de l'Ilot de la Boucherie possède le même régime alimentaire pendant l'enfance et à l'âge adulte. A l'échelle de l'Empire romain, cette recherche a permis de mettre en évidence la singularité du régime alimentaire des gaulois du Nord, les relations isotopiques entre les humains et la faune associée ne se retrouvant dans aucun site publié daté de cette période. Ces résultats sont une avancée dans la connaissance des habitudes alimentaires des habitants de Gaule du Nord qui semblent se démarquer des autres populations tardo-antiques déjà étudiées à partir des marqueurs isotopiques

Late Upper Palaeolithic human diet: first stable isotope evidence from Riparo Tagliente (Verona, Italy).

This article reports results of carbon (13C/12C) and nitrogen (15N/14N) stable isotope analysis performed on the bone collagen of a Late Epigravettian human individual and 11 faunal remains from the Upper Palaeolithic deposits of Riparo Tagliente (Verona, Italy). Riparo Tagliente is located in Valpantena on the pre-alpine massif of Monti Lessini, at 250 m a.s.l. Its strategic position, about halfway from the plain and the top of the limestone plateau, has allowed the groups that occupied the site to exploit different ecosystems. The human skeleton comes from an incomplete burial excavated in 1973 and belongs to a young adult male. It is dated between 16,634 and 15,286 cal BP (OxA-10672). The !13C (−18.4‰) and !15N (13.0‰) values of the human individual are enriched compared to those of herbivores on average by +1.2‰ in 13C and +10.0‰ in 15N, and to the omnivores on average by +1.4‰in 13C and +7.2‰in 15N. Isotopic values would indicate an origin of proteins from terrestrial herbivores and high trophic level species. These data match with the results of taphonomic analyses carried out on the bone remains of herbivores, while the study of other species as fish is still in progress