Keywords
Stable isotope analysis, nutritional stress, napoleon army, diet
Abstract
A mass grave containing the remains of at least 3269 Napoleonic soldiers from 1812 was discovered in Vilnius, Lithuania in 2001. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic analyses were performed on collagen from 78 femoral samples to explore dietary variation within the sample. Starvation and nutritional distress were also evaluated through the examination of nitrogen enrichment in bone collagen. Clinical studies have demonstrated that enriched nitrogen isotope values can indicate periods of nutritional stress and starvation; however, this is the first study to examine its use as a diagnostic indicator of starvation in a historical population using bone tissue. According to the carbon isotope data, a vast majority of the soldiers in this sample consumed predominantly C3 plants with only five individuals consuming more than 50% of their plant dietary protein in the form of C4 plants, with δ13C ratios for this sample ranging from -19.22‰ to -11.76‰ and a mean of -17.18‰. This conforms to expectations given that a majority of human plant consumption in Europe is C3 pathway plants. Twenty-nine individuals exhibit enriched δ15N values, with δ15N values for this sample ranging from 7.14‰ to 13.63‰ and a mean of 10.49‰. The combination of historical and isotopic evidence suggests prolonged nutritional stress may be the cause of enrichment in this sample. The results of this study demonstrate the applicability of this method on archaeological samples as a line of evidence in the investigation of starvation and famine.
Notes
If this is your thesis or dissertation, and want to learn how to access it or for more information about readership statistics, contact us at STARS@ucf.edu
Graduation Date
2013
Semester
Fall
Advisor
Dupras, Tosha
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
College
College of Sciences
Department
Anthropology
Degree Program
Anthropology
Format
application/pdf
Identifier
CFE0005004
URL
http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0005004
Language
English
Release Date
December 2013
Length of Campus-only Access
None
Access Status
Masters Thesis (Open Access)
Subjects
Dissertations, Academic -- Sciences, Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic
STARS Citation
Holder, Sammantha, "Interpreting Diet And Nutritional Stress In Napoleon's Grand Army Using Stable Carbon And Nitrogen Isotope Analysis" (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2752.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/2752