New, from the Journal of Archaeological Science

[bunnyjadwiga]

Articles that may be of interest to my readers:

Journal of Archaeological Science
Volume 35, Issue 6, Pages 1445-1764 (June 2008)

Methods for calculating brine evaporation rates during salt production . Pages 1453-1462
D. Glen Akridge

The coloured glass of Iulia Felix . Pages 1489-1501
A. Silvestri

Suspected bacterial disease in two archaeological horse skeletons from southern England: palaeopathological and biomolecular studies . Pages 1581-1590
R. Bendrey, G.M. Taylor, A.S. Bouwman and J.P. Cassidy

The production technology of Egyptian blue and green frits from second millennium BC Egypt and Mesopotamia . Pages 1591-1604
G.D. Hatton, A.J. Shortland and M.S. Tite

Environmental impacts around the time of Norse landnám in the Qorlortoq valley, Eastern Settlement, Greenland. Pages 1643-1657
J. Edward Schofield, Kevin J. Edwards and Charlie Christensen

The parry problem. Pages 1658-1666
Margaret A. Judd

The consilience of historical and isotopic approaches in reconstructing the medieval Mediterranean diet. Pages 1667-1672
M. Salamon, A. Coppa, M. McCormick, M. Rubini, R. Vargiu and N. Tuross

Comments

[bytchearse.livejournal.com]

Having never read that journal, are any of the articles brought down to layman's terms, or at least written simply?

The last article looks intriguing, but if I have to refer to the dictionary too frquently (like with "consilience" and 'isotopic") the article would lose meaning for me.

PS

[bytchearse.livejournal.com]

That was actually a serious question :)

not exactly layperson-friendly

[bunnyjadwiga.livejournal.com]

But then, it's not detailed enough to our recipe-loving hearts anyway.

Here's the abstract:

During the Middle Ages, the economies of Europe, the religious directives involving dietary requirements, and the general human subsistence base were transformed. These complicated and intertwined issues are starkly revealed in an isotopic study of two inland Italian human populations that are separated by approximately 850 years in time. Stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopic values observed in human dentin and bone collagen from the sites of early medieval Castro dei Volsci and late medieval Rome are consistent with diets that differed substantially. As the North Atlantic opened to fishing and food preservations methods improved, Mediterranean peoples increased their fish consumption dramatically, and in doing so, met the religious directives of the Catholic Church. By analyzing both teeth and bone collagen within individuals, long-term feeding behaviors are documented, and the utility of last erupted teeth collagen as sources of adult dietary information is established. This study offers the first physical evidence of this new economic reality linking the Atlantic and Mediterranean economies at the end of the Middle Ages.

Here's their conclusions, which are somewhat readable:

Stable carbon and nitrogen values in teeth and bones from Castro dei Volsci and Rome indicate a significant change in diets between the early and late medieval periods. Compared to the Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea is relatively poor in fish (Braudel, 1972 F. Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, Harper and Row Publishers, New York (1972).Braudel, 1972). Recent archaeological and historical research shows that, beginning around 1000 AD, northern Europe's economic and demographic growth fueled an expansion of the food supply and market economy from industrial-scale fishing in the Atlantic (Barrett et al., 2004). Medieval innovations in northern Europe made viable large-scale fishing of distinctively Atlantic species: floating nets allowed large harvests of herring (Ervynck et al., 2004), which were barrel pickled in brine, a technique suited to the preservation of the oily flesh of that superabundant fish; and drying preserved the very different flesh of cod in the climate conditions of northern latitudes ([Heinrich, 1986] and [Robinson, 2000]). By capturing vast quantities of fish and preserving them much longer than had been widely possible before, the innovations fostered an Atlantic fishing industry whose long-distance supply met demand arising from growing northern European urban market networks and deepening observance of Christian fasting. The written records indicate that this new, more affordable and stockable Atlantic marine food supply reached Italy by the shipload in the later fourteenth century (Nigro, 1997) after the Genoese and then the Venetians created cheaper, direct sea links between Mediterranean and Atlantic seaports in the decades around 1300 (Lane, 1973). The increased consumption of marine resources observed in the individuals from Rome may offer the first physical evidence of this new economic reality linking the Atlantic and Mediterranean economies at the end of the Middle Ages.