Introduction to Paleodiets

Recommended Prerequisites

There are no recommended prerequesites

Teaching Methods

Power point presentations are used in theoretical and practical classes, which are afterwards made available for the students. In the practical classes the students have the opportunity to apply the acquired knowledge on the resolution of practical cases.

Learning Outcomes

The students should acquire a set of theoretical and pratical concepts, based on different scientific areas that will allow them characterize the diet of past human populations through the analysis of their skeletal remains. Since diet has a biological component that can not be dissociated from the expressions of social nature it assumes a major relevance on the understanding of how humans adapt to their environment and subsistence patterns adopted.

Different approaches for diet characterization of past human populations will be presented. As a direct method, a particular emphasis will be put forward on bone chemical analysis, such as trace elements and carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis. Besides the perception of the theoretical background underlying the application of these direct techniques, the students are expected to be able to interpret their results in a credible manner.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

The importance of paleodiets analysis.

Different approaches to paleodiets: direct and indirect methods.

The diet of the first hominines: main changes.

The bone tissue.

Trace elements analysis: main elements used in diet reconstruction. Trace elements variability.

Stable isotopes analysis. The use of stable carbon and nitrogen in the distinction between diets based on C₃ and C₄ plants, marine versus terrestrial food and riverine resources. The nitrogen isotopes in the discrimination of resources of marine, terrestrial and riverine origin. The influence of environmental factors and the action of diagenesis on carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes.

Dental microwear analysis in the distinction of diets rich in vegetable or animal food.

Head Lecturer(s)

Cláudia Isabel Soares Umbelino

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Exam: 50.0%
Resolution Problems: 50.0%

Bibliography

Richards, M. P. 2002. A brief review of the archaeological evidence for Palaeolithic and Neolithic subsistence. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 56: 1270-1278.

Richards, M. P.; Jacobi, R.; Cook, J.; Pettitt, P. B.; Stringer, C. B. 2005. Isotope evidence for intensive use of marine foods by Late Upper Palaeolithic humans. Journal of Human Evolution, 49: 390-394.

Richards, M. P.; Pettitt, P. B.; Trinkaus, E.; Smith, F. H.; Paunovic, M.; Karanovic, I. 2000. Neanderthal diet at Vindija and Neanderthal predation: the evidence from stable isotopes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97: 7663-7666.

Umbelino, C. 2006. Outros sabores do passado: as análises de oligoelementos e de isótopos estáveis na reconstituição da dieta das comunidades humanas do Mesolítico final e do Neolítico final/Calcolítico do território português. Dissertação de Doutoramento em Antropologia, Departamento de Antropologia, Universidade de Coimbra.