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Isotopic Evidence for Environmental Adaptation in Medieval Iin Hamina, Northern Finland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2017

Maria Lahtinen Open the ORCID record for Maria Lahtinen [Opens in a new window]
Maria Lahtinen*
Affiliation:
Finnish Museum of Natural History (LUOMUS), Laboratory of Chronology, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsingin Yliopisto, Finland
*
* Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

This study investigates human environmental adaptation in northern Finland at the cemetery of Iin Hamina. The cemetery was in use in the 15th and 16th centuries AD during the cool climate anomaly called the Little Ice Age. It is possible that these extreme climatic conditions may have impacted human survival in this agriculturally marginal region. In previous studies, carbon and nitrogen isotopes in the bone collagen of humans and fauna have shown that the main protein source for people at Iin Hamina was fish. In this study, I observe annual changes in diet derived from isotopic studies of teeth. Apart from one individual whose protein source shifted radically during tooth formation, the results show the inhabitants of Iin Hamina experienced only minor changes in diet over periods of several years. Moreover, none of the dietary profiles provided evidence of dietary or physiological stress through raised nitrogen isotope ratios. The results indicate that the individuals in this study appear to have been well-adapted to their environment.

Keywords

bioarchaeologydentinedietFinlandMedieval
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 59 , Issue 4 , August 2017 , pp. 1117 - 1131
Copyright
© 2017 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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