This article presents the results of research that focused on the nutrition and related health issues of medieval and early modern dogs found in the territory of present-day Lithuania. In this study, ...we present bone collagen carbon (δ
C) and nitrogen (δ
N) isotope ratios for seventy-five dogs recovered from seven sites which were dated back to the between the 12th and 18th C AD. In addition, by studying the remains of almost 200 dogs, we were able to estimate changes in the sizes and morphotypes of canines across over 600 years. On the basis of stable isotope and historical data, as well as the osteometric analysis, we discuss the dietary patterns of different sizes and types of dogs from the sites related to different social strata and time periods. The results of our study demonstrate that the size, type, diet, and health of canines from different time periods and sociocultural environments varied. Overall, carbon isotopic signals indicate that dogs' diets were based on C
plant environment foods (cereals and animals), while freshwater fish was more important for some individuals in coastal Klaipėda/Memelburg Castle. The stable isotope analysis supported the historical records, indicating that cereals were highly important in the diet of elite dogs. Meanwhile, urban dogs had a different nutrition. In the Middle Ages, the consumption of plant-based foods was likely higher compared to the early modern period. Our study also revealed that the diets of dogs did not correlate with individual size. Compared to pigs, dogs had a higher intake of animal foods in their diet. In general, the nutrition of the studied canines was similar to that of the rural human population of the same period.
In this study we present new carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope data of human (n=13) and animal (n=40) bone and/or dentine collagen samples, alongside accelerator mass spectrometry ...radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dates of human remains (n=16). The studied material was sampled from Lithuanian sites dating from the Late Mesolithic to the pre-Roman Iron Age. For the first time, we present δ13C and δ15N data from Lithuanian freshwater fish as well as AMS 14C, δ13C, and δ15N measurements of human remains from six disturbed graves at the Donkalnis cemetery and from two pre-Roman Iron Age graves. According to the new results, human diet derived protein from the Late Mesolithic to Subneolithic (ca. 7000–2900 cal BC) was primarily based on freshwater fish. While previous macrobotanical and stable isotope studies has suggested that C4 plants, i.e., millet, became more widely used from the Late Bronze Age (1100–500 cal BC), our data suggests that millet consumption may have decreased during the pre-Roman Iron Age (500–1 cal BC) in the southeastern Baltic.
The harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus), today a subarctic species with breeding populations in the White Sea, around the Jan Mayen Islands and Newfoundland, was a common pinniped species in the ...Baltic Sea during the mid- and late Holocene. It is puzzling how an ice dependent species could breed in the Baltic Sea during the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM), and it remains unclear for how long harp seals bred in the Baltic Sea and when the population became extirpated. We combined radiocarbon dating of harp seal bones with zooarchaeological, palaeoenvironmental and stable isotope data to reconstruct the harp seal occurrence in the Baltic Sea. Our study revealed two phases of harp seal presence and verifies that the first colonization and establishment of a local breeding population occurred within the HTM. We suggest that periods with very warm summers but cold winters allowed harp seals to breed on the ice. Human pressure, salinity fluctuations with consequent changes in prey availability and competition for food resources, mainly cod, resulted in physiological stress that ultimately led to a population decline and local extirpation during the first phase. The population re-appeared after a long hiatus. Final extinction of the Baltic Sea harp seal coincided with the Medieval Warm Period. Our data provide insights for the first time on the combined effects of past climatic and environmental change and human pressure on seal populations and can contribute with new knowledge on ongoing discussions concerning the impacts of such effects on current arctic seal populations.
•The ice dependent harp seal bred in the Baltic Sea during the HTM.•A 1000 year hiatus indicates local extirpation and subsequent recolonization.•Final extirpation coincides with the Medieval Warm Period.•Changes in environment, prey availability and hunting caused population fluctuations.
The aim of the research focuses on reconstructing diet of the seventeenth–eighteenth century Basilian monks who were buried in the crypt beneath the Holy Trinity Uniate Church in Vilnius, Lithuania. ...For this aim, stable carbon (δ
13
C) and nitrogen (δ
15
N) isotope analyses of human bone collagen samples (
n
= 74, of which 39 yielded reliable isotopic data) were performed. In order to establish the isotopic dietary baseline for the Basilian monks, we sampled faunal bones (
n
= 47, of which 34 yielded reliable isotopic data) recovered during archaeological investigations in the area around the Vilnius Lower Castle and the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. Faunal samples were comprised of various domestic and wild terrestrial animals, freshwater and anadromous fish, and migratory and non-migratory birds. In total, 121 human and faunal samples were analysed. The isotopic data collected in our study suggest that C
3
plant and domestic animal products were the main components in the diets of the Basilian monks, while freshwater fish played a noticeable, yet a much smaller dietary role. However, historical sources describe a reverse dietary picture, i.e. a higher dietary contribution from fish and a lower from animal products. The potential reasons for this incongruity between isotopic and historical dietary evidence were also explored. Finally, the isotopic data of the Basilian monks were compared with that of contemporary Lithuanian nobles and commoners. The comparisons indicate that monastic dietary patterns were more similar to those of the nobility than those of the commoners.
In recent years Lithuanian archaeologists have become greatly more aware of and interested in the information provided by faunal remains. Its potential has begun to draw the attention of researchers ...from nature sciences, while the archaeologists working in the field collect faunal remains uncovered during excavations and hand them over for storage increasingly more often. These faunal remains continue to be stored in the repository at Vilnius University. The project carried out in 2018–2020 with the funds provided by the Research Council of Lithuania gave an opportunity to record and make public the information about the zooarchaeological finds stored in the repository of Vilnius University, which are accessible for researchers and students from various scientific fields. The aims of this article are to present the Lithuanian collection of faunal remains kept at Vilnius University, to review the history of zooarchaeological research as well as the studies carried out in the last few years and to discuss the associated problems that continue to emerge.
•Technology of animal pendants was used to study the mobility of Stone Age hunters.•We analysed traceologically 16 collections of animal pendants from Mid and NE Europe.•Pendants from Mesolithic ...burials at Spiginas and Donkalnis were studied in detail.•Three major technological traditions were distinguished in early and middle Holocene.•Technological studies were coordinated with stable isotope ratio measurements.
This article attempts to verify the possibility of studying the mobility patterns of prehistoric communities based on the technological features of the artefacts, identified through traceological analyses. The research subject were animal tooth pendants from several dozen key early and middle Holocene hunter-gatherer-fishers sites in Central and Northeastern Europe. The starting point for the studies was traceological research conducted on a collection of pendants from Mesolithic burials at Spiginas (grave 4) and Donkalnis (graves 2, 4, and 5) in Lithuania. These results were compared with the findings, as yet largely unpublished, from microscopic tests conducted by the authors on 12 collections of artefacts from major early and middle Holocene sites in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia together with literature information about collections from other sites, in these areas and from sites in Russia, Sweden, Denmark and Germany, and were used to examine ways in which cord attachment areas were prepared in animal tooth pendants in Central and Northeastern Europe. In this regard, three major technological traditions were distinguished in the region which allows analysis of intercultural influences and the flow of people in the early and middle Holocene. An important part of this study involved co-ordinating the results of the technological analyses of the pendants from Spiginas and Donkalnis with the findings of stable isotope ratio measurements (87Sr/86Sr) conducted on the human remains from these cemeteries. Both research tools have been shown to be complementary in the context of research related to the mobility of early Holocene groups.
The tradition of burying horses in Lithuania lasted from the Early Roman period until the late 14th C AD. It was the longest-lasting custom in Europe, which has left about 2000 known horse burials. ...This paper publishes the osteometric data and age of horses found in Lithuanian cemeteries and castles of the 3rd–14th C AD, over 200 individuals in total. These are the remains of all the horses still stored in Lithuanian institutions. The paper discusses the dynamics of horse body size in order to test previously suggested hypotheses regarding the relationship between large horse body size and its military use, possibly non-local breed, and high social status of the owner. Moreover, we are publishing the AMS 14C dates of 13 horses previously assigned to the Migration period. The research results corrected the existing chronology. The abundant data also allowed an assessment of the development of the size and age of the horses in Lithuania between the 3rd and 14th C AD. Osteometric analyses have shown that Late Roman–post-Migration-period horses were unusually large compared to the Viking and medieval horses in Lithuania. Meanwhile, we suggest that the semi-slender-legged 118–125-cm-tall horse, which predominated in the Viking period, is the most consistent with the local horse type. In general, the horses in Lithuania in the 3rd–11th C AD were small compared to those in Central and Western Europe or Scandinavia. More significant changes can be observed in the Middle Ages. In the 12–14th C AD, there was a much greater variety of horses and the expansion of taller (140–150 cm) individuals. However, the continued abundance of small horses in the medieval times, found buried with saddles and other equipment, allows one to renew the debate on the formation of the cavalry, the tactics of combat, and the social composition of horsemen in Lithuania.
In this study, 71 human individuals were subjected to stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N)
isotope analysis of bone collagen samples for the purpose of determining human dietary patterns
in ...Lithuania during the Late Roman and Migration periods. More specifically, based on the
isotopic data, the aim was to determine and evaluate any potential dietary differences between
individuals on the basis of their sex, age, social status and place of residence during the periods
in question. The results of this study suggest that there were isotopically clearly distinguishable
dietary differences between individuals from different parts/regions of Lithuania. Also, statistically
significant dietary differences (on the basis of δ15N values) between males and females
were observed (although, when making the same sex-based isotopic comparisons at an individual
site level, the same result was observed only among those from Marvelė cemetery). However, no
statistically significant isotopic differences were detected between different social or age groups.
Overall, these results give us one of the first glimpses into the types of dietary habits practiced by
people in various parts of Lithuania during the Roman and Migration periods, which could also
serve as a good starting point for future investigations into other dietary aspects in the territories
and periods in question that still remain unknown.
A set (n = 37) of new human bone radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry (14C AMS) dates from 11 Lithuanian Late Roman Period–Migration Period cemeteries is presented and discussed in the light of ...the established schemes of archaeological chronology. The focus of the paper is on the burials of the military and social elite, which indicate the emergence of new cultural traditions in E–S and W–Central Lithuania or the immigration that took place during this time. The 14C dates allow us to suggest corrections to the dominant chronological pattern of cultural development in the region.
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