Faculty of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
Department of History and Tourism, Polotsk State University, Novopolotsk, Belarus.
PLoS One. 2022 Oct 7;17(10):e0275758. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275758. eCollection 2022.
In western and north-western Europe there has been a growing focus on exploring how major economic, political, and social changes during the Medieval period impacted the lived experience of different populations and sectors of society. Stable isotope analysis has proven particularly powerful in this regard, providing direct insights into the long-term diets of individuals and communities. Despite experiencing similarly dramatic social reconfigurations and changes, eastern Europe has, however, received far less attention in this regard. The territory of Belarus has, especially, so far remained a relative blank spot on the bioarchaeological map of Europe, though cities such as Polack emerged rapidly as key nodes within a growing economic and religious network. To gain direct insight into the diets of inhabitants of the Polack region of Belarus in the 11-18th centuries, we applied stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to bone and dentine collagen from human (n = 143) and animal (n = 105) individuals from the city of Polack and surrounding rural sites. Results indicate a diet based on C3 terrestrial resources, which did not differ between sexes and showed limited variation over time. Contrary to expectations, it appears that animal products were commonly consumed by rural dwellers, but no significant reliance on fish resources or millet consumption is found. In contrast to examples from western Europe, we argue that the diets in the city and the surrounding villages remained broadly similar for the majority of the population, and similar to commoners analysed in Poland and Lithuania, perhaps suggestive of slightly different economic changes operating in this part of the Medieval world.
在西欧和西北欧，人们越来越关注探索中世纪时期的重大经济、政治和社会变革如何影响不同人群和社会阶层的生活经历。稳定同位素分析在这方面证明特别有效，它为个体和社区的长期饮食提供了直接的见解。尽管东欧经历了同样剧烈的社会重组和变革，但在这方面却受到的关注要少得多。白俄罗斯的领土尤其在欧洲生物考古学地图上仍然是一个相对空白的地方，尽管像波拉克这样的城市迅速成为一个不断增长的经济和宗教网络中的关键节点。为了直接了解 11 至 18 世纪白俄罗斯波拉克地区居民的饮食情况，我们对来自波拉克市及其周边农村地区的人类（n=143）和动物（n=105）个体的骨骼和牙本质胶原蛋白进行了稳定的碳和氮同位素分析。结果表明，居民的饮食以 C3 陆地资源为基础，在性别之间没有差异，而且随着时间的推移变化有限。与预期相反的是，农村居民似乎经常消费动物产品，但没有发现对鱼类资源或小米消费的明显依赖。与西欧的例子不同，我们认为城市和周边村庄的饮食对大多数人口来说仍然大致相似，与波兰和立陶宛分析的平民相似，这也许表明中世纪世界这一地区的经济变化略有不同。
