New zooarchaeological evidence from Pictish sites in Scotland : implications for early medieval economies and animal-human relationships

Funding This research was part of the Northern Picts Project (2009–2015), The Comparative Kingship Project (since 2017) funded by the Leverhulme Trust as part of a Research Leadership Award under Grant RL-2016-069, and Historic Environment Scotland Citadel project—code is RG15531-10. KB was supported by the Leverhulme Trust (PLP-2019–284). Acknowledgments We wish to thank the two reviewers for their constructive comments that have improved the original version of this paper. We thank the University of Aberdeen students and volunteer excavators who participated in the excavations and the onsite collection of samples as well as helping clean and sort the faunal material. We also wish to thank Zena Timmons and Jerry Herman (National Museum of Scotland) for access to NMS collections and for their time. Thanks to funding from Don and Elizabeth Cruickshank that allowed many of the excavations referenced here to take place and enabled publication of results.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Multi-isotope analysis of the human skeletal remains from Blair Atholl, Perth and Kinross, Scotland

In 1985 the remains of a male individual lying in a long cist grave were discovered at Bridge of Tilt, Perth and Kinross. Dated to the 5th–6th century AD, the burial is one of only a small number of known early medieval burials in the area but is part of a rich early medieval and multi-period archaeological landscape. In recent years, the efforts of a commercial and community partnership aiming to re-evaluate the remains of ‘Blair Atholl Man’ has enabled advanced study of the skeleton, including isotope and genetic analyses. Here we present new insights into the diet (δ13C, δ15N) and lifetime mobility (δ34S, δ18Ocarb, 87Sr/86Sr) of this early medieval individual. Results indicate a diet largely based on terrestrial food sources, likely dominated by pork, but including other domestic species and possibly freshwater fish or fowl. Based on the mobility isotope data this individual was an immigrant to the area and likely spent their childhood in a more westerly region of Scotland