Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Black Death and the Late Medieval Agrarian Crisis: Implications for Dietary Inequality in Denmark

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The medieval period in Denmark (1050-1536 A.D.) was witness to two of the most devastating crises in human history: the famines associated with the Late Medieval Agrarian Crisis (LMAC, began in 1300) and the Black Death epidemic (1348-1353). The LMAC resulted in widespread famine and death throughout much of northern Europe and the Black Death has been estimated to have killed one third of the population of Denmark alone. This study will be the first to examine the effects of these events on diet and dietary inequality in Denmark. The investigators will use stable isotopic analyses of carbon and nitrogen from both human bone collagen and apatite to reconstruct diet from individuals from a variety of segments of medieval society and from the entire medieval period. Much of our knowledge of medieval diet comes from historical sources. It is generally agreed that cereal grains were the most important dietary resource for the majority of people in the medieval period. Historians argue that the population decimation resulting from the Black Death and LMAC necessitated a subsistence shift for most of Europe. Thus, this study will test the hypothesis that prior to 1300 AD, the large population was supported by a primarily cereal-based agricultural diet; while after 1353 AD, population density was lower, crop yields were unreliable, and the diet thus became more pastoral in character. Medieval European society was highly stratified by social class and historical sources indicate that this hierarchy was reflected in diet. This study will also test the hypothesis that the shift towards a more pastoral diet after 1353 A.D. also resulted in a reduction in the disparity in diets between individuals of different social classes. The proposed research will add to our knowledge of the physical anthropology of Denmark, medieval history and the archaeology of social inequality. This project will present some of the first information regarding the diet in medieval Denmark; it will be the first wide-scale analysis of the dietary consequences of the LMAC and Black Death. Because this work focuses on populations of known social structure, it will contribute to the body of anthropological theory on social inequality.This project will train the graduate student researcher in state of the art methods in stable isotope analysis, fostering future research in paleodietary analyses. This research also promotes international cooperation and collaboration. The completion of this research will result in a doctoral dissertation and publications submitted to peer-reviewed journals.