Beyond faith: Biomolecular evidence for changing urban economies in multi‐faith medieval Portugal

Abstract

Objectives: During the Middle Ages, Portugal witnessed unprecedented socioeconomic and religious changes under transitioning religious political rule. The implications of changing ruling powers for urban food systems and individual diets in medieval Portugal is poorly understood. This study aimed to elucidate the dietary impact of the Islamic and Christian conquests. Materials and Methods: Radiocarbon dating, peptide mass fingerprinting (ZooMS) and stable isotope analysis (δ 13 C, δ 15 N) of animal (n = 59) and human skeletal remains (n = 205) from Muslim and Christian burials were used to characterize the diet of a large historical sample from Portugal. A Bayesian stable isotope mixing model (BSIMM) was used to estimate the contribution of marine protein to human diet.Results: Early medieval (8-12th century), preconquest urban Muslim populations had mean (±1SD) values of À18.8 ± 0.4 ‰ for δ 13 C 10.4 ± 1 ‰ for δ 15 N, indicating a predominantly terrestrial diet, while late medieval (12-14th century) postconquest Muslim and Christian populations showed a greater reliance on marine resources with mean (±1SD) values of À17.9 ± 1.3‰ for δ 13 C and 11.1 ± 1.1‰ for δ 15 N. BSIMM

Shrouded in history: Unveiling the ways of life of an early Muslim population in Santarém, Portugal (8th– 10th century AD)

“…On a chemical level, the elements in the bones and teeth of these individuals can provide important information on their dietary and mobility patterns. Stable isotope analysis of carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) has become an increasingly common practice in archaeological studies of the diets of humans and animals living in the past [4][5][6][7] and more recently there is an expanding corpus of isotope studies focused on medieval Iberia although, to date, many more have been focused on medieval Spain [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] than on Portugal [19][20][21][22]. Published data on the mobility of medieval Iberian populations is even more scarce than dietary research, or indeed scarcer than mobility studies for other time periods in Iberia.…”

Review of periodical literature for 2021

“…Through the isotopic analysis of osteological data gathered from three Portuguese cities, Toso et al. examine the impact of the twelfth‐ and thirteenth‐century Christian conquests of Islamic territories on diets.…”