Baseline isotopic variability in plants and animals and implications for the reconstruction of human diet in 1 st century AD Pompeii
Abstract While Pompeii has long captured the imagination with its history and tragic end, recent efforts have shifted towards unveiling everyday lifeways. Our study seeks to explore agricultural and husbandry practices in Pompeii, aiming to explore isotopic variability of different food categories a...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-08-01
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-12156-7 |
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| author | Silvia Soncin Valeria Amoretti Chiara Comegna Chiara Assunta Corbino Noemi Mantile Simona Altieri Maria Rosa Di Cicco Valentina Giacometti Jan Bakker Marina Caso Angela Trentacoste Steven Ellis Mary Anne Tafuri Gabriel Zuchtriegel Oliver Edward Craig Carmine Lubritto |
| author_facet | Silvia Soncin Valeria Amoretti Chiara Comegna Chiara Assunta Corbino Noemi Mantile Simona Altieri Maria Rosa Di Cicco Valentina Giacometti Jan Bakker Marina Caso Angela Trentacoste Steven Ellis Mary Anne Tafuri Gabriel Zuchtriegel Oliver Edward Craig Carmine Lubritto |
| author_sort | Silvia Soncin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract While Pompeii has long captured the imagination with its history and tragic end, recent efforts have shifted towards unveiling everyday lifeways. Our study seeks to explore agricultural and husbandry practices in Pompeii, aiming to explore isotopic variability of different food categories available to the Romans within this unique “snapshot” scenario. To do so, we deploy stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of plants and animals. Our findings suggest a diversity of practices, with isotopic variation in C3 cereals and legumes pointing to the use of a greater variety of cultivation techniques compared to arboreal crops. We highlight distinct management regimes utilised for different animal species and we uncover a spectrum of aquatic environments, indicative of diversity of fishing practices. These findings provide direct support of archaeological evidence and textual interpretations of Roman food systems in Pompeii. However, our dataset also reveals the limitations of bulk isotope approaches in detecting this dietary diversity when we use it to interpret the local human diet through mixing models. Together, our results show that a broad and well-contextualised isotopic baseline can help us understanding ancient food systems, while also revealing the challenges of disentangling dietary complexity using bulk stable isotope data alone. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-31e13ebdf6f841ddaa5a7dfd0182be9e |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-31e13ebdf6f841ddaa5a7dfd0182be9e2025-08-20T03:05:25ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-08-0115111210.1038/s41598-025-12156-7Baseline isotopic variability in plants and animals and implications for the reconstruction of human diet in 1 st century AD PompeiiSilvia Soncin0Valeria Amoretti1Chiara Comegna2Chiara Assunta Corbino3Noemi Mantile4Simona Altieri5Maria Rosa Di Cicco6Valentina Giacometti7Jan Bakker8Marina Caso9Angela Trentacoste10Steven Ellis11Mary Anne Tafuri12Gabriel Zuchtriegel13Oliver Edward Craig14Carmine Lubritto15Department of Environmental Biology and Mediterranean bioArchaeological Research Advances (MAReA) Centre, Sapienza Università Di RomaPompeii Archaeological ParkPompeii Archaeological ParkPompeii Archaeological ParkDepartment of Environmental Biological and Pharmaceutical Science and Technology and Mediterranean bioArchaeological Research Advances (MAReA) Centre, University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli”Department of Environmental Biological and Pharmaceutical Science and Technology and Mediterranean bioArchaeological Research Advances (MAReA) Centre, University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli”Department of Environmental Biological and Pharmaceutical Science and Technology and Mediterranean bioArchaeological Research Advances (MAReA) Centre, University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli”Department of Environmental Biological and Pharmaceutical Science and Technology and Mediterranean bioArchaeological Research Advances (MAReA) Centre, University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli”ACASA, University of AmsterdamHerculaneum Archaeological ParkThe British School at RomeDepartment of Classics, University of CincinnatiDepartment of Environmental Biology and Mediterranean bioArchaeological Research Advances (MAReA) Centre, Sapienza Università Di RomaPompeii Archaeological ParkDepartment of Archaeology, BioArCh, University of YorkDepartment of Environmental Biological and Pharmaceutical Science and Technology and Mediterranean bioArchaeological Research Advances (MAReA) Centre, University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli”Abstract While Pompeii has long captured the imagination with its history and tragic end, recent efforts have shifted towards unveiling everyday lifeways. Our study seeks to explore agricultural and husbandry practices in Pompeii, aiming to explore isotopic variability of different food categories available to the Romans within this unique “snapshot” scenario. To do so, we deploy stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of plants and animals. Our findings suggest a diversity of practices, with isotopic variation in C3 cereals and legumes pointing to the use of a greater variety of cultivation techniques compared to arboreal crops. We highlight distinct management regimes utilised for different animal species and we uncover a spectrum of aquatic environments, indicative of diversity of fishing practices. These findings provide direct support of archaeological evidence and textual interpretations of Roman food systems in Pompeii. However, our dataset also reveals the limitations of bulk isotope approaches in detecting this dietary diversity when we use it to interpret the local human diet through mixing models. Together, our results show that a broad and well-contextualised isotopic baseline can help us understanding ancient food systems, while also revealing the challenges of disentangling dietary complexity using bulk stable isotope data alone.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-12156-7Stable isotopesPompeiiRoman economyRoman dietAgricultureHusbandry |
| spellingShingle | Silvia Soncin Valeria Amoretti Chiara Comegna Chiara Assunta Corbino Noemi Mantile Simona Altieri Maria Rosa Di Cicco Valentina Giacometti Jan Bakker Marina Caso Angela Trentacoste Steven Ellis Mary Anne Tafuri Gabriel Zuchtriegel Oliver Edward Craig Carmine Lubritto Baseline isotopic variability in plants and animals and implications for the reconstruction of human diet in 1 st century AD Pompeii Scientific Reports Stable isotopes Pompeii Roman economy Roman diet Agriculture Husbandry |
| title | Baseline isotopic variability in plants and animals and implications for the reconstruction of human diet in 1 st century AD Pompeii |
| title_full | Baseline isotopic variability in plants and animals and implications for the reconstruction of human diet in 1 st century AD Pompeii |
| title_fullStr | Baseline isotopic variability in plants and animals and implications for the reconstruction of human diet in 1 st century AD Pompeii |
| title_full_unstemmed | Baseline isotopic variability in plants and animals and implications for the reconstruction of human diet in 1 st century AD Pompeii |
| title_short | Baseline isotopic variability in plants and animals and implications for the reconstruction of human diet in 1 st century AD Pompeii |
| title_sort | baseline isotopic variability in plants and animals and implications for the reconstruction of human diet in 1 st century ad pompeii |
| topic | Stable isotopes Pompeii Roman economy Roman diet Agriculture Husbandry |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-12156-7 |
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