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Isotope analyses to explore diet and mobility in a medieval Muslim population at Tauste (NE Spain).

ABSTRACT: The Islamic necropolis discovered in Tauste (Zaragoza, Spain) is the only evidence that a large Muslim community lived in the area between the 8th and 10th centuries. A multi-isotope approach has been used to investigate the mobility and diet of this medieval Muslim population living in a shifting frontier region. Thirty-one individuals were analyzed to determine δ15N, δ13C, δ18O and 87Sr/86Sr composition. A combination of strontium and oxygen isotope analysis indicated that most individuals were of local origin although three females and two males were non-local. The non-local males would be from a warmer zone whereas two of the females would be from a more mountainous geographical region and the third from a geologically-different area. The extremely high δ15N baseline at Tauste was due to bedrock composition (gypsum and salt). High individual δ15N values were related to the manuring effect and consumption of fish. Adult males were the most privileged members of society in the medieval Muslim world and, as isotope data reflected, consumed more animal proteins than females and young males.

SUBMITTER: Guede I

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5417512 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Isotope analyses to explore diet and mobility in a medieval Muslim population at Tauste (NE Spain).

Guede Iranzu I Ortega Luis Angel LA Zuluaga Maria Cruz MC Alonso-Olazabal Ainhoa A Murelaga Xabier X Pina Miriam M Gutierrez Francisco Javier FJ Iacumin Paola P

PloS one 20170504 5

The Islamic necropolis discovered in Tauste (Zaragoza, Spain) is the only evidence that a large Muslim community lived in the area between the 8th and 10th centuries. A multi-isotope approach has been used to investigate the mobility and diet of this medieval Muslim population living in a shifting frontier region. Thirty-one individuals were analyzed to determine δ15N, δ13C, δ18O and 87Sr/86Sr composition. A combination of strontium and oxygen isotope analysis indicated that most individuals wer ...[more]

PMID: 28472159

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Project description:Medieval European urbanization presents a line of continuity between earlier cities and modern European urban systems. Yet, many of the spatial, political and economic features of medieval European cities were particular to the Middle Ages, and subsequently changed over the Early Modern Period and Industrial Revolution. There is a long tradition of demographic studies estimating the population sizes of medieval European cities, and comparative analyses of these data have shed much light on the long-term evolution of urban systems. However, the next step-to systematically relate the population size of these cities to their spatial and socioeconomic characteristics-has seldom been taken. This raises a series of interesting questions, as both modern and ancient cities have been observed to obey area-population relationships predicted by settlement scaling theory. To address these questions, we analyze a new dataset for the settled area and population of 173 European cities from the early fourteenth century to determine the relationship between population and settled area. To interpret this data, we develop two related models that lead to differing predictions regarding the quantitative form of the population-area relationship, depending on the level of social mixing present in these cities. Our empirical estimates of model parameters show a strong densification of cities with city population size, consistent with patterns in contemporary cities. Although social life in medieval Europe was orchestrated by hierarchical institutions (e.g., guilds, church, municipal organizations), our results show no statistically significant influence of these institutions on agglomeration effects. The similarities between the empirical patterns of settlement relating area to population observed here support the hypothesis that cities throughout history share common principles of organization that self-consistently relate their socioeconomic networks to structured urban spaces.

Dataset Information

Isotope analyses to explore diet and mobility in a medieval Muslim population at Tauste (NE Spain).

Publications

Isotope analyses to explore diet and mobility in a medieval Muslim population at Tauste (NE Spain).

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