Subadult dietary variation at Trino Vercellese, Italy, and its relationship to adult diet and mortality

Bibliographic Data

ID8315968
AuthorsL J Reitsema (0000-0003-1127-3496, University of Georgia, corresponding author), Giuseppe Vercellotti (0000-0002-2935-8589, Department of Anthropology The Ohio State University Columbus OH 43210), R Boano (0000-0003-4421-9816, University of Turin)
Year2016
Volume160
Issue4
Pages653-664
Publication date2016-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ajpa.22995
PMID27100777
OpenAlexW2343139881
LanguageEN
Citations received19
References cited79

OBJECTIVES: Early-life nutrition is a predisposing factor for later-life outcomes. This study tests the hypothesis that subadults from medieval Trino Vercellese, Italy, who lived to adulthood consumed isotopically different diets compared with subadults who died before reaching adulthood. We have previously used a life history approach, comparing dentine and bone of the same adult individuals ("subadults who lived"), to elucidate dietary variation across the life span. Here, we examine diets of "subadults who died" from the same population, estimated from subadult rib collagen, to explore whether dietary behaviors of subadults who lived differed from those of subadults who died. METHODS: Forty-one subadults aged six months to 14.5 years were studied through stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of collagen. RESULTS: Individuals were weaned by age 4 years, with considerable variation in weaning ages overall. Post-weaning, diets of subadults who died comprised significantly less animal protein than diets of subadults who lived. Isotopic values of the two oldest individuals, 13.5 and 14.5 years, show the same status-based variation in diet as do adults from the population. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that incorporating animal protein in diet during growth and development supported medieval subadults' ability to survive to adulthood. Isotopic similarities between adults and older subadults suggest "adult" dietary behaviors were adopted in adolescence. Stable isotope evidence from subadults bridges a disparity between ontogenetic age categories and socioculturally meaningful age categories in the past, and sheds light on the underpinnings of health, mortality, growth, and disease in the bioarchaeological record. Am J Phys Anthropol 160:653-664, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Animal science · Biology · Ontogeny · Population · Weaning · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Demography · Endocrinology · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access