From Isoscapes to Farmscapes:Introduction to the Special Issue

No abstract available

The nature of the feast: commensality and the politics of consumption in Viking Age and Early Medieval Northern Europe

In Early Medieval Northern Europe, food was more than mere sustenance. Rather, dietary choices were used to define and manipulate identity and shape power politics. Using the Norse Earldom of Orkney as a case study and commensality as an analytical framework, the authors explore how the archaeology of food, and in particular zooarchaeological evidence, can be used alongside near contemporary historical sources to better understand the political and social role of food, as well as the likely scale and impact of commensal activities on farming economies and environments in the Medieval North Atlantic. They argue that feasting and, by extension, the mechanisms by which preferentially consumed foodstuffs were grown, procured and processed, would have had a transformative impact on Norse society at diverse scales, from enabling individuals to participate in social negotiations to driving local and regional economies

An isotopic investigation into the origins and husbandry of Mid-Late Bronze Age cattle from Grimes Graves, Norfolk

Bioarchaeological evidence suggests that the site of Grimes Graves, Norfolk, characterised by the remains of several hundred Late Neolithic flint mineshafts, was a permanently settled community with a mixed farming economy during the Mid-Late Bronze Age (c. 1400 BCE – c. 800 BCE). The aim of this study was to investigate, through isotope ratio analysis (87Sr/86Sr, δ13C and δ18O), the origins and husbandry of Bronze Age cattle (Bos taurus) excavated from a mineshaft known as the “1972 shaft”. Strontium isotope ratios from the molar enamel of ten Grimes Graves cattle were compared with eight modern animals from the Chillingham Wild White cattle herd, Northumberland. The range of 87Sr/86Sr values for the modern cattle with known restricted mobility was low (0.00062) while the values for the Grimes Graves cattle varied much more widely (range = 0.00357) and suggest that at least five of the cattle were not born locally. Two of these animals were likely to have originated at a distance of ≥ 150 km. Intra-tooth δ13C profiles for eight of the Grimes Graves cattle show higher δ13C values compared to those of Early Bronze Age cattle from central England. Most of these profiles also display pronounced shifts in δ13C during the period of enamel formation. One possible interpretation is that the cattle were subject to dietary change resulting from movement between habitats with different vegetation δ13C values. More comparative data, both archaeological and modern, is required to validate this interpretation. The multi-isotope approach employed in this study suggests that certain cattle husbandry and/or landscape management practices may have been widely adopted throughout central Britain during the Mid-Late Bronze Age

Identifying seaweed consumption by sheep using isotope analysis of their bones and teeth : Modern reference δ13C and δ15N values and their archaeological implications

This research was funded by the British Natural Environment Research Council (NERC; NER/B/S/2003/00223) and the European Social Fund and Scottish Funding Council as part of Developing Scotland’s Workforce in the Scotland 2014-2020 European Structural and Investment Fund Programme. Stable isotope values in tooth enamel were measured at the SSMIM (Paris, MNHN) with technical support of Joël Ughetto. Modern sheep mandibles and/or information on sheep herding practices on Orkney were kindly provided by Robert Mainland (Rousay), Linda Haganand Una Gordon (Holm of Aikerness), Billy Muir, Dr Kevin Woodbridge and the North Ronaldsay Sheep Court (North Ronaldsay). We would like to thank Anne Brundle, Tankerness House Museum, Orkney (Point of Cott), Dr Colleen Batey, University of Glasgow (Earl’s Bu) and ProfJane Downes and Nick Card, Orkney College, UHI (Mine Howe) for providing access to the archaeological mandibles. The authors would also like to thank Jane Outram and Mandy Jay for assistance in preparation and isotopic measurement of the vegetation samples, which were kindly collected by Robert Craigie, and Karen Chapman for preparing the mandibles. Lastly, the authors are also grateful for the constructive comments of the editors and anonymous reviewers.Peer reviewedPostprin

Seaweed fertilisation impacts the chemical and isotopic composition of barley : Implications for analyses of archaeological skeletal remains

This research was partially funded by the European Social Fund and Scottish Funding Council as part of Developing Scotland's Workforce in the Scotland 2014–2020 European Structural and Investment Fund Programme. The contribution of staff from the University of the Highlands and Islands' Agronomy Institute and the James Hutton Institute to the field trial was supported by Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) funding from the Scottish Government. GPS geolocation was performed by archaeologists of the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA). Stable isotope ratio measurements were performed at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), East Kilbride, and elemental composition analysis was performed at the Trace Element Speciation Laboratory, Aberdeen (TESLA). MB would like to thank IM's family for their help collecting and storing the decomposing seaweed.Peer reviewedPostprintPostprin

Genetic examination of historical North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) bone specimens from the eastern North Atlantic: Insights into species history, transoceanic population structure, and genetic diversity

Species monitoring and conservation is increasingly challenging under current climate change scenarios. For the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) this challenge is heightened by the added effects of complicated and uncertain past species demography. Right whales once had a much wider distribution across the North Atlantic Ocean, although the degree to which right whales in the western and eastern North Atlantic were genetically isolated remains unknown. We analyzed DNA from 24 4th–20th century (CE) right whale bone specimens that were collected from 10 historical and archaeological sites in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Scotland. Following mtDNA species identification, we obtained 15-locus nuclear microsatellite profiles from a subset of eight specimens and compared these to contemporary data from animals remaining in the western North Atlantic population. While some specimens share mtDNA haplotypes with the contemporary population, several new haplotypes were found. Moderate mtDNA and nuclear differentiation between the two regions was identified (mtDNA: FST = 0.0423, ΦST = 0.041; nuclear DNA: FST = 0.024). Interpretation of the relationships between animals in the two regions is not simple, and this research highlights the difficulty in conducting such assessments in species with complex histories of unknown structure prior to extensive exploitation.publishedVersio

Trace element ratios in tooth enamel as palaeodietary indicators of seaweed consumption and coastal grazing, and their broader applicability

Ratios of barium and strontium concentrations in skeletal samples (e.g. in the logarithmic form lg(Ba/Sr)), are a possible alternative or supplementary marker to stable carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) for identification of marine food consumption. Previous studies have compared lg(Ba/Sr) values between different species of animals with differing diets, but few studies have been performed where animals of the same species consumed known diets ranging from completely terrestrial to completely marine. Additionally, how seaweed consumption affects dental and bone Ba, Sr and other trace element concentrations has not yet been directly investigated. In this study, tooth enamel from modern sheep (n = 15) that consumed known diets containing varying amounts of terrestrial grasses and seaweeds were analysed for their Sr, Ba, Ca, V, Mn, Co, Ni, As, and U concentrations. Additionally, δ13C values were analysed to enable comparison of δ13C and trace element ratios as markers of marine plant food consumption. The consumed vegetation types (grasses and seaweeds) were also analysed for trace element ratios, as were soils and sands from areas where the animals were pastured. To investigate how decay processes (i.e., diagenesis) may affect lg(Ba/Sr) in archaeological tooth enamel, teeth of 22 sheep from seven archaeological sites (ranging from ca. 5000 to 1000 years old) on the Orkney Islands, Scotland, were also analysed. The results show that tooth enamel from seaweed-eating sheep had significantly different lg(Ba/Sr) (−2.4 to −1.6) and δ13C values (−6.7‰ to −3.3‰) when compared to terrestrial-feeding sheep (lg(Ba/Sr) 0.6 to −0.5; δ13C −15.5‰ to −14.7‰), with a linear correlation between lg(Ba/Sr) and δ13C (R2 = 0.94). Vegetation, soil and sand results confirmed the assumed dependence of enamel lg(Ba/Sr) values on the (bioaccessible) Ba and Sr concentrations of the consumed matter. The archaeological samples had elevated relative amounts of U, V, As, Mn, Co, and Ni, attributable to diagenesis. However, the lg(Ba/Sr) values of the archaeological enamel followed the trend established using the modern samples, indicating that diagenesis did not cause significant changes in lg(Ba/Sr) in these samples. In conclusion, lg(Ba/Sr) values in enamel appear to be a useful indicator of the relative amount of marine food consumed, including seaweeds. This may be particularly advantageous for samples and locations where δ13C is unreliable or ambiguous as an indicator of marine food consumption

Dunnicaer, Aberdeenshire, Scotland : a Roman Iron Age promontory fort beyond the frontier

Acknowledgements Thanks to Dunecht Estate for granting permission to access and investigate Dunnicaer. Duncan Paterson of North-east Mountaineering very ably got the team up on top and ensured our safety at all times. Many thanks to the brave diggers Michael Stratigos, Claire Christie, Vanessa Rees, Rob Lenfert, Oskar Sveinbjarnarson, Grace Woolmer, Anni Tolppanen, John Graham, Victoria Wilson, Katie South, Juudit Gross, Scott White, Gemma Cruickshanks, John Harrison, Sarah Elliot, Jeff Oliver and Juliette Mitchell (and Duncan). Bruce Mann and Caroline Palmer kindly provided scans of aerial photographs of Dunnicaer from the Aberdeenshire SMR records. The project was funded by Don and Elizabeth Cruickshank through the University of Aberdeen Development Trust, by Aberdeenshire Council and through grant funding from the Strathmartine Trust.Peer reviewedPostprin

A Lockpick's Guide to dataARC: Designing Infrastructures and Building Communities to Enable Transdisciplinary Research

The North Atlantic Biocultural Organization (NABO) community initiated dataARC to develop digital research infrastructures to support their work on long-term human-ecodynamics in the North Atlantic. These infrastructures were designed to address the challenges of sharing research data, the connections between those data and high-level interpretations, and the interpretations themselves. In parallel, they were also designed to support the reuse of diverse data that underpin transdisciplinary synthesis research and to contextualise materials disseminated widely to the public more firmly in their evidence base. This article outlines the research infrastructure produced by the project and reflects on its design and development. We outline the core motivations for dataARC's work and introduce the tools, platforms and (meta)data products developed. We then undertake a critical review of the project's workflow. This review focuses on our understanding of the needs of stakeholder groups, the principles that guided the design of the infrastructure, and the extent to which these principles are successfully promoted in the current implementation. Drawing on this assessment, we consider how the infrastructure, in whole or in part, might be reused by other transdisciplinary research communities. Finally, we highlight key socio-technical gaps that may emerge as structural barriers to transdisciplinary, engaged, and open research if left unaddressed