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Palaeodiet reconstruction in a woman with probable celiac disease

A stable isotope analysis of bone remains from the archaeological site of Cosa (Italy)

Bibliographic Data

ID8321559
AuthorsGabriele Scorrano (0000-0002-0887-4023, Centro di Antropologia Molecolare per lo studio del DNA antico, Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata” Via della Ricerca scientifica n. 1 00133 Roma Italia, corresponding author), M Brilli (0000-0002-2536-5714, Institute of Environmental Geology and Geoengineering), Cristina Martinez‐labarga (0000-0003-0439-0379, Centro di Antropologia Molecolare per lo studio del DNA antico, Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata” Via della Ricerca scientifica n. 1 00133 Roma Italia), Francesca Giustini (0000-0002-7159-469X, Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria, CNR 00015 Montelibretti Roma Italia), Elsa Pacciani (0000-0002-9241-8783, Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana Via dei Rossi 26/A 50018 Scandicci Firenze Italia), Filberto Chilleri (Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana Via dei Rossi 26/A 50018 Scandicci Firenze Italia), Franco Scaldaferri (0000-0001-8334-7541, Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, Divisione di Gastroenterologia Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore L.go Gemelli 8 00168 Roma Italia), Antonio Gasbarrini (0000-0002-6230-1779, Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, Divisione di Gastroenterologia Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore L.go Gemelli 8 00168 Roma Italia), Giovanni Gasbarrini (Fondazione Ricerca in Medicina ONLUS, Galleria Falcone e Borsellino, 2 40123 Bologna Italia), Olga Rickards (0000-0003-2880-7466, Centro di Antropologia Molecolare per lo studio del DNA antico, Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata” Via della Ricerca scientifica n. 1 00133 Roma Italia)
Year2014
Volume154
Issue3
Pages349-356
Publication date2014-07-01
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.22517
PMID24706415
OpenAlexW2128503682
LanguageEN
Citations received24
References cited56

Stable isotope analysis in the reconstruction of human palaeodiets can yield clues to early human subsistence strategies, origins and history of farming and pastoralist societies, and intra‐ and intergroup social differentiation. In the last 10 years, the method has been extended to the pathological investigation. Stable isotope analysis to better understand a diet‐related disease: celiac disease in ancient human bones was carried out. To do this, we analyzed the nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of human ( n = 37) and faunal ( n = 8) bone remains from the archaeological site of Cosa at Ansedonia, on the Tyrrhenian coast near Orbetello (Tuscany), including the skeletal remains of a young woman (late 1st century–early 2nd century Common Era [CE]) with morphological and genetic features suggestive of celiac disease. We compared the young woman's isotopic data with those of other individuals recovered at the same site but from two later time periods (6th century CE; 11–12th century CE) and with literature data from other Italian archaeological sites dating to the same period. Her collagen δ 13 C and δ 15 N values differed from those of the samples at the same site, and from most but not all of the contemporary sites. Although the woman's diet appears distinct, chronic malnutrition resulting from severe malabsorption of essential nutrients due to celiac disease may have affected the isotopic composition of her bone collagen. Am J Phys Anthropol 154:349–356, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Agriculture · Archaeology · Bioarchaeology · Biology · Geography · Human bone · Isotope analysis · Paleopathology · Subsistence agriculture · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Ecology · Paleopathology and ancient diseases · Trace Elements in Health

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Unique citing works24
Citations per year2,4
Citation span2016 - 2025 (10)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 23
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