Exploring Dietary Differentiation in the Roman Province of Macedonia: Isotopic Evidence from Pontokomi-Vrysi and Nea Kerdylia-Strovolos

ABSTRACT

This paper used stable isotope analysis (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) to examine whether intra- and inter-site sex and age differences existed within two distinct communities of Roman Macedonia in relation to the dietary preferences of their inhabitants. It also explored the degree of influence that the micro-ecology characterising the sub-region each community used to reside and the social status of these individuals had in determining the observed dietary profiles. The results showed no sex and age intra-community differences, but did reveal important inter-site differences. Together these observed patterns have implications regarding the way archaeologists and more specifically bioarchaeologists still examine social groups in relation to food; oversimplified divisions on inequalities in the household domain need to be reconsidered, or at least justified. They also show the potential bioarchaeology holds to enlighten aspects of the social history of the ‘common’ people residing in the provinces. It lastly argues for the potential of science-based approaches to the study of food to provide supplementary information regarding past dietary preferences that can be used as a proxy to detect variable degrees of incorporation into the globalising networks of the Roman world and argues for a closer collaboration between bioarchaeology and current theoretical discussions on Romanization.

KEYWORDS:

• Roman Macedonia
• bioarchaeology
• human remains
• stable isotopes
• diet
• sex and age differences

Acknowledgements

This research was conducted at the Archaeological Museums of Aiani and Amphipolis in Greece. The authors would like to thank the staff of the conservation section of both museums for helping in the sampling process. Our special thanks are extended to the director of the Ephorate of Antiquities in Kozani, Dr. A. Chondrogianni-Metoki, the director of the Ephorate of Antiquities in Serres, Dr. D. Malamidou, and all colleagues working at both museums, who supported and encouraged our work. Our warmest gratitude goes also to Dr. G. Kazantzis for helping in the animal bones sampling process, and to the personnel at the Center of Isotopes Research in Groningen and especially Anita Aerts-Bijma for providing all necessary information on the Center's standards and protocols. Finally, we wish to thank Mahmoud Mardini for helping with the preparation and editing of the figures of the manuscript and Chryssa Tsimopoulou for helping in the macroscopic data collection from NKS. This study was financially supported by the University of Groningen and The Cyprus Institute. EN's contribution was supported by the Dan David Prize.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Dan David Prize.

Notes on contributors

Chryssa Vergidou

Chryssa Vergidou received her bachelor degree in History, Archaeology and the History of Art at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), and her MSc in Human Osteology and Funerary Archaeology from Leiden University, The Netherlands in 2016. She is currently a joint PhD candidate at the Groningen Institute of Archaeology (GIA) and The Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture Research Center (STARC) of The Cyprus Institute. In parallel with her academic steps, she worked as a professional archaeologist in excavations and projects carried out by Greece's Ministry of Culture. At the same time, she has been involved in survey projects and systematic excavations carried out by Cambridge and Groningen Universities. Finally, she worked professionally as a bio-archaeologist at the Ephorate of Antiquities in Kozani, Greece.

Georgia Karamitrou-Mentessidi

Georgia Karamitrou-Mentessidi studied archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and continued her post graduate studies at the Scuola Nazionale di Archaeologia in Rome with a scholarship from the Italian Institute. She has a doctorate in Archaeology from the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki. Dr. Karamitrou served both as the director of the Aiani excavations and later on from 2004 until 2011 as the director of the 4^th Ephorate of Antiquities based in Aiani, where she implemented a persistent program to rescue and protect the heritage of the Kozani and Grevena Prefectures. As the excavator of Aiani, she made the ancient city and the necropolis open to visitors, she conducted a plethora pioneering educational programs and events, and laid the foundations for the realization and establishment of the Archaeological Museum of Aiani. She is the author of numerous articles and books concerning Upper Macedonia, which gave a new dimension to the history of the region. Since 2010, she has established the scientific meeting for the Archaeological Project in Upper Macedonia (AEAM), of which three volumes of proceedings have been published under her supervision, and the fourth is on the way.

Penelope Malama

Penelope Malama studied Classical Archeology and History in Graz, Austria where in 1988 she wrote her thesis on “The Late Classical and Hellenistic Tomb Grave-goods from Mesorachi Serres”. She started her career as a professional archaeologist in 1989 and, since then, she has served in many prominent positions within the Ephorates of Antiquities in Kavala and Serres, Greece. She has also carried out excavations in several archaeological sites in the Prefectures of Serres, Kavala, Thassos, and Drama. Among them, her position as head archaeologist for the site of Amphipolis stands out, as well as the rescue excavations she conducted during the construction of the Egnatia Road in the Prefecture of Serres (1999-2002). As part of this project, she published in 2008 the book “The Roman Cemetery in Nea Kerdylia Serres”, funded by the Egnatia Road SA, while at the same time, she excavated a large part of the eastern cemetery of the ancient city of Amphipolis, publishing the results of the Classical, Hellenistic and Roman times pottery and burial customs. She is also involved in the publications for the Ancient Gymnasium of Amphipolis, the Sanctuary of the Virgin in Kavala, and ancient Galipsos. She has participated in many conferences, both in Greece and abroad.

Konstantinos Darakis

Konstantinos Darakis is a graduate of the department of Αrcheology and Αrt Ηistory of the University of Ioannina, Greece and holds a master's degree in “Protection, Conservation and Restoration of Architectural Monumets.” Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He works in Northern Greece on excavations and research for the Greek Ministry of Culture. He has participated in scientific archaeological conferences and has written articles in Greek and international scientific archaeological journals. His main research interests are ancient Greek art, religion, topography and burial customs.

Michael W. Dee

Michael W. Dee is Associate Professor of Isotope Chronology at the Centre for Isotope Research (CIO), Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He is also the head of the CIO's radiocarbon dating laboratory, the longest-running facility of its type in the world. Michael's background is in chemistry, but he began to specialise in radiocarbon dating during his DPhil (2006­-2010) at the University of Oxford. His thesis focused on the application of Bayesian modelling to radiocarbon data, and was the basis for a Science paper in 2010. Michael then undertook a post-doctoral research position at Oxford (2010–2013) and a Research Fellowship in the same institution (2013–2016). During this time, he was also awarded a Junior Research Fellowship at St Edmund Hall. In 2016, Michael was the recipient of an ERC Starter Grant (€1.5 m), for a project on the potential of past solar storms for exact-year radiocarbon dating. The grant has produced, amongst others, a publication in PNAS and another in Nature. In 2021, Michael was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant (€2.0 m) to continue his work on solar activity, radiocarbon production events and exact-year dating.

Sofia Voutsaki

Sofia Voutsaki is Professor of Greek Archaeology at the Groningen Institute of Archaeology and Director of the Graduate Programme Archaeology. Her research interests include Aegean prehistory, Classical archaeology, mortuary studies, bioarchaeology, archaeological theory and the relevance of the past in the present. She has recently completed the excavation of the early Mycenaean North Cemetery and the urban survey at the recently discovered Mycenaean palatial centre at Ayios Vasileios, Laconia and is now preparing the final publications with an international team of specialists. She also directs the Halos Landscape Project in the Classical - Hellenistic site of Halos in Thessaly. She has co-edited six volumes on topics ranging from Aegean prehistory to bioarchaeology and the history of archaeology, and is the author of several peer-reviewed articles.

Efthymia Nikita

Efthymia Nikita is Assistant Professor in Bioarchaeology at the Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture Research Center (STARC) of The Cyprus Institute. She studies human skeletal remains across the Mediterranean from prehistoric to post-Medieval contexts, shedding light on health and disease, diet, activity, demography and other important aspects of life in the past. She earned a BA in Archaeology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a PhD in Biological Anthropology from the University of Cambridge. Prior to her appointment at STARC, she held post-doctoral posts at the British School at Athens and the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, as well as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship at the University of Sheffield. Her research has resulted in over 80 articles and book chapters, including the textbook ‘Osteoarchaeology: A Guide to the Macroscopic Study of Human Skeletal Remains’ (Elsevier 2017). She is currently co-Editor-in-Chief for the second edition of the Encyclopedia of Archaeology (Elsevier), as well as Associate Editor for the Journal of Archaeological Science and Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. She was recently awarded a Dan David prize for her contribution to the study of the past.

Petra Vaiglova

Petra Vaiglova is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution and the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research. In her work, she utilizes biomolecular techniques to seek answers to how people adapted to ancient environments, from development of early farming techniques in the Neolithic, through construction of large desert towns in the provinces of the Byzantine Empire, to the adoption of non-native domesticates in Bronze Age China. Vaiglova's specializes in development of new applications of isotopic analyses (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, strontium, sulphur) in archaeology and on teaching courses in archaeological science.