Diachronic changes in diet in medieval Berlin: Comparison of dietary isotopes from pre- and post-Black Death adults

The precise time, the original location, and the processes involved in the creation of Germany's capital Berlin are still unknown due to a lack of surviving documents. As such, archaeology and bioarchaeology play a critical role in understanding the people who lived in medieval Berlin. In this paper, we describe an isotope analysis aimed at identifying what the early inhabitants of Berlin were eating and at inferring dietary variation among skeletons sexed as male versus female, and among those interred before and after the Yersinia pestis pandemic known as the Black Death (1347-1352 CE). Carbon (delta C-13) and nitrogen (delta N-15) isotope ratios from 66 skeletons from the medieval cemetery site of Petriplatz indicate that males consumed proportionately more protein than females before the Black Death. However, a significant increase in delta N-15 values in skeletons associated with post-Black Death contexts suggests an increased consumption of animal protein for both males and females. This study is the first dietary isotopic analysis to be conducted on the skeletons at Petriplatz and is only the second paleodietary isotopic reconstruction of the High Middle Ages in Germany. Consequently, this study provides key insights into the cultural responses to the ecology of the Black Death by the people of Berlin within the broader context of medieval Germany and medieval Europe.

Automated summary

This study used isotope analysis to determine the dietary habits of early inhabitants of medieval Berlin. It found that males consumed proportionately more protein than females before the Black Death, but there was an increase in animal protein consumption for both males and females after the pandemic.