Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Aarhus University, Højbjerg, Denmark.
Department of Archaeology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Queen's College, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2021 Sep;176(1):36-53. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.24339. Epub 2021 Jun 6.
By focusing on two Danish leprosaria (Naestved and Odense; 13th-16th c. CE) and using diet and origin as proxies, we follow a multi-isotopic approach to reconstruct life histories of patients and investigate how leprosy affected both institutionalized individuals and the medieval Danish community as a whole.
We combine archaeology, historical sources, biological anthropology, isotopic analyses (δ C, δ N, δ S, Sr/ Sr) and radiocarbon dating, and further analyze bones with different turnover rates (ribs and long bones).
The δ C, δ N and δ S results indicate a C terrestrial diet with small contributions of marine protein for leprosy patients and individuals from other medieval Danish sites. A similar diet is seen through time, between males and females, and patients with and without changes on facial bones. The isotopic comparison between ribs and long bones reveals no significant dietary change. The δ S and Sr/ Sr results suggest that patients were local to the regions of the leprosaria. Moreover, the radiocarbon dates show a mere 50% agreement with the arm position dating method used in Denmark.
A local origin for the leprosy patients is in line with historical evidence, unlike the small dietary contribution of marine protein. Although only 10% of the analyzed individuals have rib/long bone offsets that undoubtedly show a dietary shift, the data appear to reveal a pattern for 25 individuals (out of 50), with elevated δ C and/or δ N values in the ribs compared to the long bones, which points toward a communal type of diet and reveals organizational aspects of the institution.
通过关注丹麦的两个麻风病院（奈斯特韦兹和奥登塞；公元 13-16 世纪），并以饮食和起源为指标，我们采用多同位素方法来重建患者的生活史，并研究麻风病如何影响被收容者和整个中世纪的丹麦社区。
我们结合考古学、历史资料、生物人类学、同位素分析（δ C、δ N、δ S、 Sr/ Sr）和放射性碳测年，并进一步分析具有不同周转率的骨骼（肋骨和长骨）。
δ C、δ N 和 δ S 的结果表明，麻风病患者和其他中世纪丹麦遗址的个体的饮食以陆生 C 为主，海洋蛋白的贡献较小。从时间上看，男女之间、面部骨骼有变化和无变化的患者之间，饮食模式相似。肋骨和长骨之间的同位素比较表明，饮食没有明显变化。δ S 和 Sr/ Sr 的结果表明，患者来自麻风病院所在地区。此外，放射性碳年代测定仅与丹麦使用的手臂位置测年法有 50%的一致性。
麻风病患者的本地起源与历史证据相符，而海洋蛋白质的少量饮食贡献则不然。尽管只有 10%的分析个体的肋骨/长骨偏移无疑显示出饮食的变化，但数据似乎揭示了 25 个人（50 个人中的 25 个）的模式，与长骨相比，肋骨中的 δ C 和/或 δ N 值升高，这表明存在一种公共类型的饮食，并揭示了该机构的组织方面。
