Temporal changes in diet: a stable isotope analysis of late Iron Age and Roman Dorset, Britain

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between diet and cultural change in late Iron Age and Romano-British populations from Dorset, England (1st century BC to the early 5th century AD). Dorset was the only region in Britain to exhibit continuity in inhumation burial rites through these periods and a wide array of environmental, archaeological and material culture evidence is available there. A sample of N = 77 human adult and N = 17 faunal rib samples were utilized for carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis to test the hypothesis that Romanization of the diet would result in greater dietary variation. The results of this study indicate that the late Iron Age sample did not show any sex-related differences in diet and consumed a diet that was heavily reliant on terrestrial resources. In contrast, the Romano-British population exhibited enriched isotopic values, though the data did not indicate a widespread increase in the use of marine resources across all sex and age cohorts. Instead, the data suggest that it was females rather than males who had a small component of enriched 13C food in their diet.