Biological histories of an elite: Skeletons from the Royal Chapel of Lugo Cathedral (NW Spain)

Abstract

This study aims to reconstruct the biological histories of the people buried at the Royal Chapel of Lugo Cathedral, an important religious center of NW Spain, by using anthropological, geochemical, and historical perspectives. We conducted a macroscopic and radiographic study on 955 skeletal elements, a multi-isotope (δ 13 C col , δ 15 N, δ 34 S col , δ 13 C ap , δ 18 O ap ) analysis of human (n = 12) and animal (n = 4) samples, and the study of 1407 documents from the cathedral archives. There was a minimum of 15 individuals, including six subadults (<7 years), seven mature males, and one possible female. Several traumatic healed injuries, a pelvis osteochondroma, and a case of DISH have been detected. Males were enriched in 15 N (up to 15.7‰, Δ humananimal avg = 5.1‰) suggesting consumption of animal protein including freshwater fish. Cathedral documents reflect fora payments in the form of rye, eggs, poultry, sheep, pigs, and eels as well as the hiring of two physicians. All individuals, except one, lived between the 14 th and the early 15 th centuries and show characteristics of high standard of living. Males were likely members of the cathedral-chaplains, administrators, sacristans, but not bishops-or noblemen relatives of the former according to preserved documents. Isotopic and paleopathological study suggest that they had an active and traveling life and at least one of them had connections with Central Spain. Children were local and possibly connected to the nobility. Lugo Cathedral is a prime example about the possibilities of transdisciplinary research in the identification of lifestyle in past populations.

To the field of stars: Stable isotope analysis of medieval pilgrims and populations along the Camino de Santiago in Navarre and Aragon, Spain

“…At both extremes, and following the historical sources described above, we find individuals with diets typical of people from the social elite, as well as for the poor or marginalized. Individuals PCP(NAV)03, PCP(NAV)06, SMA(NAV)01, SMU(NAV)01, SSA(NAV)01, and PBJ(ARG)32 seem to have had diets with high animal and marine protein inputs based on their δ 15 N and δ 13 C values (López-Costas et al, 2021;Pérez-Ramallo et al, 2022a,b). Four of them (PCP(NAV)06, SMA (NAV)01, SMU(NAV)01, and SSA(NAV)01), illustrate δ 15 N and δ 13 C values closer to those observed among Iberian social elite individuals from the same period available in the literature (Jiménez-Brobeil et al, 2016;López-Costas et al, 2021;Pérez-Ramallo et al, 2022a).…”

“…Individuals PCP(NAV)03, PCP(NAV)06, SMA(NAV)01, SMU(NAV)01, SSA(NAV)01, and PBJ(ARG)32 seem to have had diets with high animal and marine protein inputs based on their δ 15 N and δ 13 C values (López-Costas et al, 2021;Pérez-Ramallo et al, 2022a,b). Four of them (PCP(NAV)06, SMA (NAV)01, SMU(NAV)01, and SSA(NAV)01), illustrate δ 15 N and δ 13 C values closer to those observed among Iberian social elite individuals from the same period available in the literature (Jiménez-Brobeil et al, 2016;López-Costas et al, 2021;Pérez-Ramallo et al, 2022a). By contrast, we also observed two individuals with limited inputs of animal protein and with a high percentage of C 4 plants in their diets (PBJ(ARG) 34 and PBJ(ARG)38).…”

“…The palaeodietary analysis of different historical personages that belonged to the social elite illustrate δ 15 N higher values than are observed in our data on average: the king Pedro I of Castille and other members of the royal family buried at the Cathedral of Seville (Mean and SD = δ 15 N 13.3 ± 1.5 ‰, and δ 13 C −18.6 ± 0.5 ‰) (Jiménez-Brobeil et al, 2016); priests from Capela do Pilar, Cathedral of Santa María, Lugo (Mean and SD = δ 15 N 13.6 ± 1.3 ‰, and δ 13 C −18.6 ± 0.5 ‰) (Kaal et al, 2016;López-Costas et al, 2021) ‰), Saint Raymond William or San Ramón de Roda (δ 15 N 12.4 ‰, and δ 13 C −18.6 ‰), Pedro de Librana, bishop of Zaragoza (δ 15 N 13.7 ‰, and δ 13 C −18.6 ‰), and the unknown princess from the royal pantheon of San Pedro el Viejo (δ 15 N 13.3 ‰, and δ 13 C −17.8 ‰). However, as described above, a significant number of pilgrims (n = 4) (PCP(NAV)06, SMA(NAV)01, SMU(NAV)01, and SSA(NAV)01), illustrate values closer to those observed in different historical personages and/or social elite or urban populations in the published literature.…”

“…quantity and information because of the subjectivity of the authors, who usually focused on members of the clergy and/or nobility (Andrade Cernadas, 2014). Stable isotope analysis has frequently been used in medieval contexts to explore varying reliance on different crops (Alexander et al, 2015), animal protein (Jiménez-Brobeil et al, 2016), and aquatic resources (López-Costas and Müldner, 2018), dietary variations between different socio-economic status (Jordana et al, 2019;Lubritto et al, 2017;MacKinnon et al, 2019;Martínez-Jarreta et al, 2018;Pérez-Ramallo et al, 2022a;Jiménez-Brobeil et al, 2020), and to identify local and non-local individuals (Guede et al, 2017(Guede et al, , 2018López-Costas et al, 2021;Pérez-Ramallo et al, 2022b). Here, we analyse 82 human individuals and 42 faunal specimens from 8 different archaeological sites in a relatively small area in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula that corresponds to the current regions of Navarre and Aragon (Fig.…”