Abstract

This study aims to examine the disease and diet of people in the Gyeonggi area in the late Joseon Period based on the morphological and chemical analysis of human remains from an archaeological context. The human remains contain information on individual health and diet. In this study, we applied physical anthropological analysis and stable isotope analysis to understand the disease and diet of individuals from the late Joseon period. As a result, the physical and pathological characteristics of the study group were summarized into three. First, the life expectancy of the study group was under 50 years. Second, osteoarthritis was evenly high in the study group regardless of gender and age. Third, Dental caries and enamel hypoplasia were identified with high frequency in the study group. According to these results, we inferred high labor intensity, poor dental care, and childhood nutritional imbalance of people in the Gyeonggi area in the late Joseon Period. Next, the dietary characteristics of the study group were summarized into two. First, the study group’s diet was highly dependent on C3 plants. Second, the statistical comparison showed no difference in diet between several factors (Sex, age, disease, burial type, excavated site). The results showed that dietary variations in the late Joseon Period were small, depending on several domesticated crops. And this dietary pattern is very common in an agricultural society that relies on a small number of cultivated crops.

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