Research project
Living in an emporium: An isotopic investigation of diet and mobility in early medieval Dorestad (Netherlands)
The aim of the project is two-fold: first, to further scholarly understanding of the human dynamics that shaped the growth of Dorestad in a broader, international context; and second, to test the potential of multi-isotopic analyses on an early medieval Dutch assemblage.
- Duration
- 2024 - 2026
- Contact
- Letty ten Harkel
- Funding
-
Starting grant from the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University, granted to Dr. Letty ten Harkel
- Partners
Multi-isotopic analysis
This project involves a multi-isotopic analysis of skeletal remains in order to investigate diet and mobility at the early medieval emporium of Dorestad, the Netherlands. Between the seventh and ninth centuries CE, the North Sea region transformed from an economic backwater to a key area in Eurasian trade networks. A new type of settlement that emerged in this period, was the early medieval North Sea emporium, typically a riverine centre of manufacturing and trade activity with easy access to the sea. Who were the people who inhabited these emporia? This project aims to answer this question for Dorestad.
New Methods
The results obtained from routine fieldwork done in the recent past can now be analysed using new methods that were previously unavailable. This strengthens the degree of collaboration between the developer-funded and the academic branches of archaeology within the Netherlands.
This project stands out for taking a multi-isotopic approach, combining the analysis of five different isotopes (carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, oxygen and strontium) on multiple skeletal elements per individual. This approach has the potential to shed light on the life course of individuals, thus painting a more detailed picture of the identities of Dorestad’s inhabitants. The combination of all five of these isotopes has never been done before in archaeology in the Netherlands, which shows the innovative nature of this project.
For this project, an isotopic and physical-anthropological study of the skeletal remains of twenty individuals from Carolingian Dorestad (7th to 9th century CE) will be undertaken.