Sea, sickness and cautionary tales

A multi-isotope study from a post-mediaeval hospital at the city-port of Gibraltar (AD 1462-1704)

Dados Bibliográficos

ID5405136
AutoresE Lightfoot (0000-0002-0823-4720, University of Cambridge, autor correspondente), E Pomeroy (0000-0001-6251-2165, University of Cambridge), Jennifer Grant (0000-0001-9558-8035, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas), T C O''Connell (0000-0002-4744-0332, University of Cambridge), P Le Roux (0000-0002-5930-4995, University of Cape Town), Sonia Zakrzewski (0000-0003-1796-065X, University of Southampton), Sarah Inskip (0000-0001-7424-2094, University of Cambridge), Sam Benady, Clive Finlayson (0000-0003-4795-9430, Gibraltar Museum), Geraldine Finlayson (0000-0002-6770-2520, Gibraltar Museum), Kevin Lane (0000-0001-6109-7799, Universidad de Buenos Aires)
Ano2020
Volume12
Fascículo12
Data de publicação2020-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoArchaeological and Anthropological Sciences (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1866-9557 • E-ISSN: 1866-9565
EditoraSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s12520-020-01220-0
OpenAlexW3099085000
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas62

During the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, Spanish ships sailed around the globe connecting Spain to its colonies. While documentary records offer rich details concerning life on board ship, archaeological information is essential to generating a full picture of the past. The cemetery at Old St Bernard's Hospital, Gibraltar, provides an opportunity to study the skeletal remains of sailors. Following previous osteological research, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium isotope analyses were undertaken on thirty-three of these individuals. The results show that the, largely male, individuals had various different diets during life and came from several different places. Diets were largely based on C3food chains; some individuals consumed C3foods with low δ13C values; others consumed some marine foods, and a few individuals had a high trophic level diet, through the consumption of either freshwater resources or a high proportion of animal protein. The individuals spent their childhoods in several different places, although these homelands do not correlate simply with dietary variation. This variety in diets and homelands is consistent with our expectations for this hospital site given its location in a post-mediaeval entrepôt. The interpretation of these results are greatly helped by the available historical information and this has broader implications for the interpretation of isotope data elsewhere where the historical context of the site and the mobility patterns of the individuals are less well known

Archaeological record · Archaeology · Geography · Osteology · Social science · Sociology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · History · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies