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

丹麦中世纪时期(公元1050-1536年)见证了人类历史上最具破坏性的两次危机：与中世纪晚期土地危机(LMAC，始于1300年)有关的饥荒和黑死病(1348-1353)。LMAC导致了北欧大部分地区的大范围饥荒和死亡，据估计，仅丹麦三分之一的人口就死于黑死病。这项研究将首次考察这些事件对丹麦饮食和饮食不平等的影响。研究人员将使用对人类骨胶原和磷灰石中碳和氮的稳定同位素分析来重建中世纪社会不同阶层和整个中世纪时期的个人的饮食。我们关于中世纪饮食的许多知识都来自历史来源。人们普遍认为，在中世纪时期，谷物是大多数人最重要的饮食来源。历史学家辩称，黑死病和LMAC造成的人口大幅减少，使得欧洲大部分国家有必要进行生存转变。因此，这项研究将检验这一假设，即在公元1300年之前，大量人口主要由以谷物为基础的农业饮食维持；而在公元1353年之后，人口密度较低，作物产量不可靠，因此饮食变得更加田园性质。中世纪的欧洲社会是由社会阶层高度分层的，历史资料表明，这种等级制度反映在饮食上。这项研究还将检验这样一种假设，即公元1353年以后转向更田园的饮食也导致了不同社会阶层个人之间饮食差异的缩小。拟议中的研究将增加我们对丹麦体质人类学、中世纪历史和社会不平等考古学的了解。这个项目将展示一些关于中世纪丹麦饮食的第一批信息；这将是第一次对LMAC和黑死病的饮食后果进行大规模分析。由于这项工作关注的是已知社会结构的人群，它将有助于人类学关于社会不平等的理论。该项目将培训研究生研究人员稳定同位素分析的最新方法，促进未来在古饮食分析方面的研究。这项研究也促进了国际合作和协作。这项研究的完成将产生一篇博士论文和提交给同行评议期刊的出版物。

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.