The diet of Mesolithic humans. Stable isotopes from North Sea skeletal remains

The archaeology of the Early Mesolithic period in the North Sea area is relatively still unknown. Human bone material from this area is fished and dredged at different locations in the North Sea, for instance the Brown Bank and the Eurogeul. This material is researched on the age of the bone, performed with the 14C dating method, for which the stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) automatically are measured. These isotopes provides the possibility to reconstruct the palaeodiet of these people. The main question of this thesis is whether or not a diet is seen in the data of these samples, and if so, what the character of this diet was. The results of the majority of the samples show a diet mainly based on freshwater resources, with additions of terrestrial or marine resources. This corresponds with known data from other archaeological sites in Northwest Europe in the Early Mesolithic. These indicate a broad-spectrum economy; an economy mostly based on one specific...Show moreThe archaeology of the Early Mesolithic period in the North Sea area is relatively still unknown. Human bone material from this area is fished and dredged at different locations in the North Sea, for instance the Brown Bank and the Eurogeul. This material is researched on the age of the bone, performed with the 14C dating method, for which the stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) automatically are measured. These isotopes provides the possibility to reconstruct the palaeodiet of these people. The main question of this thesis is whether or not a diet is seen in the data of these samples, and if so, what the character of this diet was. The results of the majority of the samples show a diet mainly based on freshwater resources, with additions of terrestrial or marine resources. This corresponds with known data from other archaeological sites in Northwest Europe in the Early Mesolithic. These indicate a broad-spectrum economy; an economy mostly based on one specific resource, with additional food supply of other ecosystems. Although this analysis provides more information about the Early Mesolithic of the North Sea area, this dataset is small and there is no context of the material. The absence of faunal remains is in this sense a problem. However, this can be solved by using the stable isotopes of faunal remains from a broader context, such as remains from the North Sea in its entirety, the Netherlands and Denmark. Future research can possibly provide more and detailed information about these people of this area.Show less

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The diet of Mesolithic humans. Stable isotopes from North Sea skeletal remains