In ancient Roman city, coastal people ate more fish than modern Italian
A team of archaeologists examining the remains of victims from the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79 CE have discovered that coastal people of the time ate far more fish than modern Italians, with men getting more of the highstatus food than women.
The researchers, led by a team at University of York, analysed amino acids - the building blocks of proteins - in 17 adult skeletons excavated from the city of Herculaneum, a popular seaside resort that remained buried under volcanic ash until the 18th century.
By studying the ratio of carwednesday. Lead author and PHD student Silvia Soncin said Herculaneum provided an “extraordinary population” to study historic diets because the natural disaster gives archaeologists a snapshot in time.
“Cemeteries are usually used over a certain period, we’re talking about hundreds of years, and the food sources may have changed because of changing climate or different trade routes,” she said.
Though Herculaneum and nearby Pompeii were destroyed by the volcano, most inhabitants managed to escape in time, senior author Oliver Craig, a professor of bioarchaeology said. The 11 men and six women
“We found a surprisingly high amount of marine contriparts today.
Herculaneum’s sewers were 50% more of their protein from seafood compared to females.
The team put forward sev possible reasons: men may been more involved in fis than women, but the re shows that certain fish suc tuna were considered high tus food in Roman society, men having more access.
Another aspect is t although Herculaneum known as a resort for the eli was also home to many sl and freedmen, said Craig.
Male slaves had a hig chance of emancipation t women and were gener freed at an earlier age, gi them more access to cov foods. “Now we’ve got a way approach for actually quan ing diet in the past, so wha want to do is apply this m