Stories of subsistence People and Coast over the last 6000 years in the Limfjord, Denmark
The overarching aim of the project was to quantify environmental changes in the marine environment of the Limfjord and Kattegat from the Bronze Age (c. 4000 yBP) to the present day, and link these changes to cultural developments around the Limfjord. Diatom assemblages in the Limfjord and Kattegat were used as indicators of salinity changes and other previously published proxies such as pigments and mollusc assemblages from shell middens were also used to build a picture of the environmental changes. The cultural developments were especially evidenced in subsistence strategies as reflected in 15N and 13C dietary analyses of human bones from the area using 14C in a novel way in tooth increments to help to determine whether increased 15N was due to increased marine protein in the diet or breastfeeding. Hydrogen isotopes were used to distinguish whether high 15N in bone collagen was due to manuring practices or consumption of marine protein. Strontium isotopes were also used to show migration of some individuals into the region.
Read more Read lessThe key researchers were David Ryves (PI) and Jonathan Lewis (PDRF) at Loughborough University, Jesper Olsen at Aarhus University, Niels Lynnerup at Copenhagen University and Paula Reimer and Laura van der Sluis (PGR student) at Queen’s University Belfast.
Impact of Research
The project provided an understanding of coastal environmental change and established meaningful “baseline” conditions that have relevance to coastal populations and resources today. It also established changes to diet in Denmark from the Mesolithic to the Viking Age.
Major grants and funding
Leverhulme Trust RPG-2012-817 (David Ryves, PI Loughborough University) £217.5k including QUB PhD studentship.
Publications
Recent papers published by the Research group:
Lewis JP, Ryves DB, Rasmussen P, Olsen J, Van Der Sluis LG, Reimer PJ, Knudsen KL, McGowan S, Anderson NJ, Juggins S, 2020. Marine resource abundance drove pre-agricultural population increase in Stone Age Scandinavia. Nature Communications 11: 2006.
Van Der Sluis L, Ogle N, Reimer P, 2018. Testing the Use of δ 2 H Values for Reservoir Corrections in Radiocarbon Dating Human Bone. Radiocarbon 60: 1637-48.
Van Der Sluis L, Reimer P, Ogle N, 2019. Adding Hydrogen to the Isotopic Inventory—Combining δ13C, δ15N and δ2H Stable Isotope Analysis for Palaeodietary Purposes on Archaeological Bone. Archaeometry 61: 720-49.
Van Der Sluis LG, 2017. Investigating palaeodietary changes from the Mesolithic to the Viking Age in the Limfjord area in northern Denmark: Queen’s University Belfast, PhD.
Van Der Sluis LG, Hollund HI, Kars H, Sandvik PU, Denham SD, 2016. A palaeodietary investigation of a multi-period churchyard in Stavanger, Norway, using stable isotope analysis (C, N, H, S) on bone collagen. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 9: 120-33.
Van Der Sluis LG, Reimer PJ, Lynnerup N, 2015. Investigating Intra-Individual Dietary Changes and 14 C Ages Using High-Resolution δ 13 C and δ 15 N Isotope Ratios and 14 C Ages Obtained from Dentine Increments. Radiocarbon 57: 665-77.
Collaborators
The project includes a collaborative research team from Queen's University Belfast, Loughborough University, Aarhus University and University of Copenhagen:
David Ryves (Loughborough University) https://www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/geography-environment/staff/david-ryves/
Jonathan Lewis (Loughborough University, UK) https://www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/geography-environment/staff/jonathan-lewis/
Jesper Olsen (Aarhus University, Denmark)
Niels Lynnerup ( University of Copenhagen, Denmark) https://research.ku.dk/search/result/?pure=en%2Fpersons%2Fniels-lynnerup(97d05224-2b67-4caf-9ee2-72f16c0b0a3c).html