Diet and social stratification in Early Medieval France: Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of adult population from Merovingian burial site of Le-Norroy-le-Veneur (France, 5th-8th century)

Diplomová práce měla za cíl charakterizovat stravu merovejského populačního vzorku a prověřit, zda patrné rozdíly v pohřební výbavě merovejských hrobů a proměna tohoto pohřebního ritu v průběhu 6. a 7. století byly odraženy i ve výživě zemřelých. Struktura stravy byla posouzena pomocí analýzy stabilních izotopů uhlíku (δ13 C) a dusíku (δ15 N) kosterního kolagenu 74 dospělých osob, nalezených na raně středověkém pohřebišti v le-Norroy-le- Veneur ve Francii. Výsledky ukázaly, že jejich potrava byla založena primárně na C3 rostlinách, doplněná o živočišné proteiny v míře podobné dalším soudobým lokalitám. Nebyl prokázán významný příspěvek C4 rostlin (např. proso), mořských proteinů a rovněž ani závislost δ15 N na statusu, pohlaví a datování. Osoby s bohatou pohřební výbavou však měly statisticky významně vyšší δ13 C než osoby chudé. Kromě toho též v průběhu využívání pohřebiště došlo v celé populaci k poklesu průměru izotopových hodnot uhlíku o 0,33 ‰, nezávisle na sociálním statusu nebo pohlaví. Výsledky naznačují, že potravní diferenciace vycházející ze sociální stratifikace byla teprve v počátcích svého formování, pomalu následující postupný růst moci merovejské aristokracie, a stravu ovlivnila i další nezávislá změna ve společnosti, pravděpodobně bez spojitosti s probíhající christianizací.The aim of this work was to characterize the diet of a Merovingian population sample and examine if apparent differences in grave good assemblages of Merovingian burials and transfromation of this funerary rite during 6th and 7th centuries were reflected in diet. Dietary composition was assessed using a carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of 74 bone collagen samples from adults buried at an early medieval cemetery of le-Norroy-le-Veneur, France. Results showed diet based primarily on C3 plants, supplemented with animal protein in a range similar to other contemporary sites. No significant contribution of C4 plants (e.g. millet) or marine-derived protein has been detected and neither has δ15 N dependency on status, sex or datation been found. However, persons with rich grave good assemblages had significantly higher δ13 C than low-ranking individuals. Also, during the time of use of the cemetery there has been a population-wide decrease of 0,33 ‰ in mean value of δ13 C, independent of social status or sex. Results indicate that dietary differentiation steaming from social stratification was only in its early phase of formation, slowly following a progressive rise in power of the Merovingian nobility, and the general subsistence was affected by another independent change in society, most...Katedra antropologie a genetiky člověkaDepartment of Anthropology and Human GeneticsPřírodovědecká fakultaFaculty of Scienc

Denisovan and Neanderthal contribution to variability of recent human populations

Did anatomically modern humans admix with other hominins during their range expansion from Africa? Until recently, the answer to this question remained elusive. Studies of archaic mitochondrial DNA failed to provide evidence in either direction. Fortunately, recent discoveries of well-perserved nuclear DNA of neanderthals, as well as newly described denisovans, have shown that recent Eurasians carry traces of archaic DNA in their genome. This thesis summarises known paleogenetic data addressing this problem and gives examples of genes affected by admixture. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org

Denisovan and Neanderthal contribution to variability of recent human populations

Did anatomically modern humans admix with other hominins during their range expansion from Africa? Until recently, the answer to this question remained elusive. Studies of archaic mitochondrial DNA failed to provide evidence in either direction. Fortunately, recent discoveries of well-perserved nuclear DNA of neanderthals, as well as newly described denisovans, have shown that recent Eurasians carry traces of archaic DNA in their genome. This thesis summarises known paleogenetic data addressing this problem and gives examples of genes affected by admixture. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org

Diet and social stratification in Early Medieval France: Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of adult population from Merovingian burial site of Le-Norroy-le-Veneur (France, 5th-8th century)

The aim of this work was to characterize the diet of a Merovingian population sample and examine if apparent differences in grave good assemblages of Merovingian burials and transfromation of this funerary rite during 6th and 7th centuries were reflected in diet. Dietary composition was assessed using a carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of 74 bone collagen samples from adults buried at an early medieval cemetery of le-Norroy-le-Veneur, France. Results showed diet based primarily on C3 plants, supplemented with animal protein in a range similar to other contemporary sites. No significant contribution of C4 plants (e.g. millet) or marine-derived protein has been detected and neither has δ15 N dependency on status, sex or datation been found. However, persons with rich grave good assemblages had significantly higher δ13 C than low-ranking individuals. Also, during the time of use of the cemetery there has been a population-wide decrease of 0,33 ‰ in mean value of δ13 C, independent of social status or sex. Results indicate that dietary differentiation steaming from social stratification was only in its early phase of formation, slowly following a progressive rise in power of the Merovingian nobility, and the general subsistence was affected by another independent change in society, most..

Large-scale migration into Britain during the Middle to Late Bronze Age

Present-day people from England and Wales harbour more ancestry derived from Early European Farmers (EEF) than people of the Early Bronze Age . To understand this, we generated genome-wide data from 793 individuals, increasing data from the Middle to Late Bronze and Iron Age in Britain by 12-fold, and Western and Central Europe by 3.5-fold. Between 1000 and 875 BC, EEF ancestry increased in southern Britain (England and Wales) but not northern Britain (Scotland) due to incorporation of migrants who arrived at this time and over previous centuries, and who were genetically most similar to ancient individuals from France. These migrants contributed about half the ancestry of Iron Age people of England and Wales, thereby creating a plausible vector for the spread of early Celtic languages into Britain. These patterns are part of a broader trend of EEF ancestry becoming more similar across central and western Europe in the Middle to Late Bronze Age, coincident with archaeological evidence of intensified cultural exchange . There was comparatively less gene flow from continental Europe during the Iron Age, and Britain's independent genetic trajectory is also reflected in the rise of the allele conferring lactase persistence to ~50% by this time compared to ~7% in central Europe where it rose rapidly in frequency only a millennium later. This suggests that dairy products were used in qualitatively different ways in Britain and in central Europe over this period. [Abstract copyright: © 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.