Food systems in archaeology. Examining production and consumption in the past

Reed, Kelly

doi:10.1017/s1380203821000088

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 151 publications

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“…Recent work indicates that the δ 13 C-EAA patterns of Symbiodiniaceae may be distinctive from other free living dinoflagellates (Stahl et al 2023). Baseline δ 13 C-EAA values often vary between the symbionts and coral tissue but whether this translates to differing δ 13 C-EAA patterns is unclear (Martinez et al 2020, 2021. Although sponge microbial symbionts have not been successfully cultivated (Pita et al 2018), sponge tissue and their assumed symbiotic microbes have been separated…”

Section: Tracing Eaa Sources In Consumers With (Endo)symbiotic Relati...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The power and pitfalls of amino acid carbon stable isotopes for tracing the use and fate of basal resources in food webs

Vane¹,

Cobain²,

Larsen³

2023

Preprint

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Natural and anthropogenic stressors are spatiotemporally complex, having indirect effects on the composition and biomass of organisms at the base of a food web, and their availability and nutritional quality. Because basal organisms synthesise the biomolecules essential for metazoan growth and survival (i.e. basal resources), understanding the connections between basal resources and consumers across diverse time scales is needed to fully comprehend their impact on food webs. Traditional approaches using bulk stable isotope ratios have provided insight into basal resource use, but lack specificity in identifying multiple basal resources and their transfer through ecosystems. The development of compound-specific stable isotope analyses now allows researchers to trace the trophic transfer of specific biomolecules. This paper provides an overview of the advances and challenges associated with tracing basal resources with carbon stable isotopes in amino acids (δ13C-AA). We develop a conceptual framework for understanding the mechanistic underpinning of δ13C-AA values. Subsequently, formal definitions of associated terminologies that have so far been lacking in the literature are proposed. We empirically highlight the diagnostic ability of the relative offsets between δ13C values of essential amino acids, termed δ13C-EAA patterns. As these offsets remain largely unaltered during trophic transfer and across varying environments, they can be used as fingerprints to trace spatiotemporal shifts in basal resource use within food webs. Given the stable preservation of amino acids in many metazoan tissues, δ13C-EAA fingerprints can provide insights into basal resource use in food webs from geological history through to the contemporary. The added value of non-essential amino acids as metabolic biomarkers are explored and demonstrated in an archaeological context. We provide thorough overviews of the analytical and statistical methodologies involved in making robust inferences in food web studies. The constraints and pitfalls of δ13C-AA data are discussed, such as issues with basal resource specificity, de novo synthesis, and problems with large compilation datasets. Taken together, δ13C-AA values provide a powerful tool for understanding the specific use of basal resources in food webs on various spatiotemporal scales, but careful consideration and characterization of basal resources is necessary to ensure accurate estimations of proportional use.

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Section: Tracing Eaa Sources In Consumers With (Endo)symbiotic Relati...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The power and pitfalls of amino acid carbon stable isotopes for tracing the use and fate of basal resources in food webs

Vane¹,

Cobain²,

Larsen³

2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Knowledge orders are also embedded, for example, in “foodways” or “food systems,” which may not only include knowledge about availability and use of specific cereals or soils, but also knowledge about practices and infrastructures, equipment, and technologies for cultivation, processing, storage, distribution, and consumption of food (e.g., cereals). By analyzing, for example, archaeobotanical remains, ceramic vessels, agricultural tools as well as land use strategies still visible and built structures from the past, archaeologists try to identify these “foodways” and “foodsystems” (e.g., Reed, 2021) as well as related identity formations—or even values attributed to certain foods. Further, sociocosmic connotations can play an important role.…”

Section: The Example Of Cereal Cultivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why do we need interdisciplinary cooperation with anthropologists and archaeologists in soil science?

Teuber

Bartelheim

Hardenberg

et al. 2022

J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci.

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Looking at soils from the perspective of an environmental scientist or agronomist might neglect various dimensions of valuation that can be attributed to soils. Especially social and cultural connoted values including ecosystem services cannot always be measured in terms of scientific values or classified as soil types or soil qualities in a modern, economic way. Even though soils are a fact and have been present on the Earth's surface and used by people, at least for food production, at different times and in different cultures, the ways of dealing with soils and the valuations of soils are extremely diverse. Researchers in anthropology, archaeology, and agriculture, for example, are investigating different perspectives like soils as common good or as private property. This concerns not only different knowledge orders about soils, but also beliefs, techniques, foodways, practices, and power relations concerning soils and cereal cultivation. Based on the example of agriculture with a focus on cereal cultivation, we argue that there is still a great need for interdisciplinarity between the sciences and humanities. However, there is also a need to distinguish and explain between fundamental interdisciplinary research and application of findings in a socio‐economic context. It is necessary to understand different knowledge orders and valuations in time or space and to reevaluate today's perspectives on soils and agriculture for facing modern problems such as soil degradation, erosion, salinization, and an overall loss of soil fertility.

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“…Food production and consumption have been on a dramatic rise in the past two decades (Reed, 2021). The rate at which meat consumption is exponentially rising due to the growth of the global human population is becoming unsustainable.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Legal situation and consumer acceptance of insects being eaten as human food in different nations across the world–A comprehensive review

Siddiqui,

Tettey,

Yunusa

et al. 2023

Comp Rev Food Sci Food Safe

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Insect consumption is a traditional practice in many countries. Currently, the urgent need for ensuring food sustainability and the high pressure from degrading environment are urging food scientists to rethink the possibility of introducing edible insects as a promising food type. However, due to the lack of the standardized legislative rules and the adequate scientific data that demonstrate the safety of edible insects, many countries still consider it a grey area to introduce edible insects into food supply chains. In this review, we comprehensively reviewed the legal situation, consumer willingness, acceptance, and the knowledge on edible insect harvesting, processing as well as their safety concerns. We found that, despite the great advantage of introducing edible insects in food supply chains, the legal situation and consumer acceptance for edible insects are still unsatisfactory and vary considerably in different countries, which mostly depend on geographical locations and cultural backgrounds involving psychological, social, religious, and anthropological factors. Besides, the safety concern of edible insect consumption is still a major issue hurdling the promotion of edible insects, which is particularly concerning for countries with no practice in consuming insects. Fortunately, the situation is improving. So far, some commercial insect products like energy bars, burgers, and snack foods have emerged in the market. Furthermore, the European Union has also recently issued a specific item for regulating new foods, which is believed to establish an authorized procedure to promote insect‐based foods and should be an important step for marketizing edible insects in the near future.

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Food systems in archaeology. Examining production and consumption in the past

Cited by 9 publications

References 151 publications

The power and pitfalls of amino acid carbon stable isotopes for tracing the use and fate of basal resources in food webs

The power and pitfalls of amino acid carbon stable isotopes for tracing the use and fate of basal resources in food webs

Why do we need interdisciplinary cooperation with anthropologists and archaeologists in soil science?

Legal situation and consumer acceptance of insects being eaten as human food in different nations across the world–A comprehensive review

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