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Dating Human Remains from the Historical Period in Belgium: Diet Changes and the Impact of Marine and Freshwater Reservoir Effects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Anton Ervynck ,
Mathieu Boudin ,
Tess van den Brande  and
Mark van Strydonck
Anton Ervynck*
Affiliation:
Flanders Heritage Agency, Koning Albert II-laan 19 box 5, B-1210 Brussels, Belgium
Mathieu Boudin
Affiliation:
Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Jubelpark 1, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tess van den Brande
Affiliation:
Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Jubelpark 1, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
Mark van Strydonck
Affiliation:
Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Jubelpark 1, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
*
2. Corresponding author. Email: anton.ervynck@rwo.vlaanderen.be.
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Abstract

An overview will be presented of stable isotope data (δ13C and δ15N) available from animal and human bones from Roman to post-Medieval Belgian sites. The data will be used to assess trends in the human diet and evaluate the possible impact of reservoir effects originating from the consumption of fish derived from marine or freshwater environments. Historical and archaeozoological data demonstrate drastic changes in fish consumption throughout the last 2 millennia and thus suggest that fluctuations through time of the impact of the reservoir effects can be expected. However, the present stable isotope data set does not support this suggestion.

Type
Reservoir Effects
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , 2014 , pp. 779 - 788
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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