Isotopic assessment of diet and infant feeding practices among Ottoman‐period Bedouin from Tell el‐Hesi

Abstract

AbstractStable nitrogen and carbon isotopes from human bone collagen (n = 20) were used to examine adult diet and infant feeding practices among the Ottoman‐period Bedouin at Tell el‐Hesi (ca. 1500–1800 CE). Among adults, δ15N values point to a diet dependent on animal protein, fitting with ethnohistoric accounts detailing the reliance of these communities on secondary animal products. Nevertheless, differential access to animal protein was evident between males (δ15N: x̅ = 10.7 ± 0.4‰, 1σ) and females (x̅ = 9.2 ± 0.6‰, 1σ), who consumed proportionally more plant proteins that likely included cereals used to make bread. Carbon isotope values (x̅ = − 17.4 ± 0.4‰, 1σ) were similar between the sexes and suggest a mixed C3‐C4 diet, indicating that domesticated cultivars likely contributed to food intake alongside animal products and were either obtained through trade with more sedentary groups or grown by Bedouin themselves as part of agropastoral ways of life. Nonadult δ15N values are suggestive of an extended period of supplemental breastfeeding alongside complementary feeding similar to those reported among more nomadic historic Bedouin groups. Higher δ13C values among nonadults (x̅ = − 15.7 ± 1.9‰, 1σ) throughout infancy and young childhood differed statistically from those of adults, possibly indicative of a specialized, prescribed diet for pregnant and nursing mothers as well as for young children that included resources possessing higher δ13C values, perhaps derived from C4 cereals or camel's milk.