, Guntis Gerhards , Antonija Vilcāne , Andrew Millard , Joanna Moore , Janet Montgomery This study examines childhood and adulthood diets in selected individuals from the Iron Age Lejasbitēni cemetery population in Latvia (7th–10th centuries CE). Bone samples for isotope analysis were collected from 12 adult individuals; six had previously available isotope data from M1 root dentine. Bone samples from two non-adult individuals of the chronologically later Liv culture were included for preliminary comparison. Results showed that the Lejasbitēni bone carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) values were among the lowest in the region, suggesting a diet dominated by terrestrial C3-based resources with low-trophic-level animal protein. Unlike dentine data, bone δ15N values were not significantly different between gender groups, indicating a more homogeneous adulthood diet. Higher bone δ15N values were not always consistent with rich grave inventories, suggesting no clear correlation between social status and diet. Comparison of bone and dentine values revealed a statistically significant shift towards lower δ15N and higher δ13C values in adulthood compared to childhood, indicating significant dietary change across the life course. Four out of five individuals with usable isotope data from both tissues showed a decrease in δ15N values, and all five showed an increase in δ13C values between childhood (dentine) and adulthood (bone), respectively. These results represent only a small group, and further research is necessary to explore childhood-to-adulthood dietary transitions and links between access to resources and grave goods in the Lejasbitēni population.
Aguraiuja-Lätti, Ü. & Lõugas, L. 2019. Stable isotope evidence for medieval diet in urban and rural northern Estonia. – Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 26, 101901.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101901
Aguraiuja-Lätti, Ü. & Malve, M. 2023. Dietary habits in medieval and early modern Estonia: evidence from stable isotope analysis. – Estonian Journal of Archaeology, 27: 3S, 144–164.
https://doi.org/10.3176/arch.2023.3S.07
Arnold, B. 2006. Gender in mortuary ritual. – Reader in Gender Archaeology. Ed. S. M. Nelson. AltaMira, Walnut Creek, 137–170.
https://doi.org/10.5040/9798216418313.ch-004
Atgāzis, M. 2001. Vidējais dzelzs laikmets, 400–800. g. – Latvijas senākā vēsture. Eds J. Apals, M. Atgāzis, J. Graudonis, I. Loze, Ē. Mugurēvičs, A. Vasks et al. Latvijas vēstures institūta apgāds, Riga, 232–289.
Beaumont, J. 2020. The whole tooth and nothing but the tooth: or why temporal resolution of bone collagen may be unreliable. – Archaeometry, 62: 3, 626–645.
https://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12544
Beaumont, J. & Montgomery, J. 2016. The Great Irish Famine: identifying starvation in the tissues of victims using stable isotope analysis of bone and incremental dentine collagen. – PLoS One, 11: 8, e0160065.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0160065
Beaumont, J., Atkins, E.-C., Buckberry, J., Haydock, H., Horne, P., Howcroft, R. et al. 2018. Comparing apples and oranges: why infant bone collagen may not reflect dietary intake in the same way as dentine collagen. – American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 167: 3, 524–540.
https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23682
Bliujienė, A., Skipitytė, R., Garbaras, A., Miliauskienė, Ž., Šapolaitė, J., Ežerinskis, Ž. et al. 2020. The first data on the human diet in Late Roman and Early Migration period western Lithuania: evidence from stable isotope, archaebotanical and zooarchaeological analyses. – Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 33, 102545.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102545
Bocherens, H. & Drucker, D. 2003. Trophic level isotopic enrichment of carbon and nitrogen in bone collagen: case studies from recent and ancient terrestrial ecosystems. – International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 13: 1–2, 46–53.
https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.662
Brink, S. & Price, N. S. (eds) 2008. The Viking World. Vol. 585. Routledge, London.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203412770
Buikstra, J. E. & Ubelaker, D. H. (eds) 1994. Standards for Data Collection from Human Skeletal Remains: Proceedings of a Seminar at The Field Museum of Natural History. (Archeological Survey Research Seminar Series, 44.) Arkansas Arheological Survey, Fayetteville.
Crowder, K. D., Montgomery, J., Gröcke, D. R. & Filipek, K. L. 2019. Childhood “stress” and stable isotope life-histories in Transylvania. – International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 29: 4, 644–653.
https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.2760
Danielisová, A., Hajnalová, M., Pokorná, A., Kočár, P., Kertés, S., Bursák, D. et al. 2025. Multiproxy evidence of millet reliance and selective dietary change during Iron Age transformation in Central Europe. – Scientific Reports, 15: 1, 41364.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-25274-z
Dean, M. C. & Scandrett, A. E. 1995. Rates of dentine mineralization in permanent human teeth. – International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 5: 4, 349–358.
https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.1390050405
DeNiro, M. J. 1985. Postmortem preservation and alteration of in vivo bone collagen isotope ratios in relation to palaeodietary reconstruction. – Nature, 317, 806–809.
https://doi.org/10.1038/317806a0
DeWitte, S. N., Beaumont, J., Walter, B. S., Towers, J. R. & Brennan, E. J. 2025. Childhood nutritional stress and later-life health outcomes in medieval England: evidence from incremental dentine analysis. – Science Advances, 11: 31, eadw7076.
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adw7076
D’Ortenzio, L., Brickley, M., Schwarcz, H. & Prowse, T. 2015. You are not what you eat during physiological stress: isotopic evaluation of human hair. – American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 157: 3, 374–388.
https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22722
Drucker, D. G., Bridault, A., Hobson, K. A., Szuma, E. & Bocherens, H. 2008. Can carbon-13 in large herbivores reflect the canopy effect in temperate and boreal ecosystems? Evidence from modern and ancient ungulates. – Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 266: 1–2, 69–82.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.03.020
Elamin, F. & Liversidge, H. M. 2013. Malnutrition has no effect on the timing of human tooth formation. – PLoS One, 8: 8, e72274.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0072274
Eriksson, G., Frei, K. M., Howcroft, R., Gummesson, S., Molin, F., Lidén, K. et al. 2018. Diet and mobility among Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in Motala (Sweden) – the isotope perspective. – Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 17, 904–918.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.05.052
Etu-Sihvola, H., Salo, K., Naito, Y. I., Kytökari, M., Ohkouchi, N., Oinonen, M. et al. 2022. Isotopic insights into the early Medieval (600–1100 CE) diet in the Luistari cemetery at Eura, Finland. – Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 14, 143.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-022-01613-3
Fahy, G. E., Deter, C., Pitfield, R., Miszkiewicz, J. J. & Mahoney, P. 2017. Bone deep: variation in stable isotope ratios and histomorphometric measurements of bone remodelling within adult humans. – Journal of Archaeological Science, 87, 10–16.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2017.09.009
Fogel, M. L., Tuross, N. & Owsley, D. W. 1989. Nitrogen isotope tracers of human lactation in modern and archaeological populations. – Carnegie Institution of Washington Yearbook, 88, 111–117.
Fuller, B. T., Richards, M. P. & Mays, S. A. 2003. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope variations in tooth dentine serial sections from Wharram Percy. – Journal of Archaeological Science, 30: 12, 1673–1684.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-4403(03)00073-6
Fuller, B. T., Fuller, J. L., Harris, D. A. & Hedges, R. E. M. 2006. Detection of breastfeeding and weaning in modern human infants with carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios. – American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 129: 2, 279–293.
https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.20249
Gerhards, G. 2002. Dažas dzelzs laikmeta pētniecības problēmas antropoloģiskā skatījumā. – Latvijas Vēstures muzeja raksti, 8: Arheoloģija, numismātika, antropoloģija, paleobotānika. N.I.M.S, Rīga, 41–53.
Gerhards, G., Vilcāne, A. & Pētersone-Gordina, E. 2024. Cirvis sieviešu dzimtes indivīdu 8.–9. gadsimta apbedījumos latgaļu un sēļu apdzīvotajā teritorijā Latvijā. – Arheoloģija un etnogrāfija, XXXIII, 122–156.
Gugora, A., Dupras, T. L. & Fóthi, E. 2018. Pre-dating paprika: reconstructing childhood and adulthood diet at medieval (13th century CE) Solt-Tételhegy, Hungary from stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses. – Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 18, 151–160.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.12.036
Guiry, E. 2019. Complexities of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope biogeochemistry in ancient freshwater ecosystems: implications for the study of past subsistence and environmental change. – Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 7, 313.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00313
Gunnarssone, A., Oras, E., Talbot, H. M., Ilves, K. & Legzdiņa, D. 2020. Cooking for the living and the dead: lipid analyses of Rauši settlement and cemetery pottery from the 11th–13th century. – Estonian Journal of Archaeology, 24: 1, 45–69.
https://doi.org/10.3176/arch.2020.1.02
Hedges, R. E. M., Clement, J. G., Thomas, C. D. L. & O’Connell, T. C. 2007. Collagen turnover in the adult femoral mid-shaft: modeled from anthropogenic radiocarbon tracer measurements. – American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 133: 2, 808–816.
https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.20598
Hedges, R. E. M. & Reynard, L. M. 2007. Nitrogen isotopes and the trophic level of humans in archaeology. – Journal of Archaeological Science, 34: 8, 1240–1251.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2006.10.015
Jílková, M., Kaupová, S., Černíková, A., Poláček, L., Brůžek, J. & Velemínský, P. 2019. Early medieval diet in childhood and adulthood and its reflection in the dental health of a Central European population (Mikulčice, 9th–10th centuries, Czech Republic). – Archives of Oral Biology, 107, 104526.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archoralbio.2019.104526
Katzenberg, M. A. 2008. Stable isotope analysis: a tool for studying past diet, demography, and life history. – Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton. 2nd ed. Eds M. A. Katzenberg & S. R. Saunders. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 413–441.
https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470245842.ch13
Ķimsis, J., Pokšāne, A., Kazarina, A., Vilcāne, A., Petersone‐Gordina, E., Zayakin, P. et al. 2023. Tracing microbial communities associated with archaeological human samples in Latvia, 7–11th centuries AD. – Environmental Microbiology Reports, 15: 5, 383–391.
https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-2229.13157
King, C. L., Halcrow, S. E., Millard, A. R., Gröcke, D. R., Standen, V. G., Portilla, M. et al. 2018. Let’s talk about stress, baby! Infant‐feeding practices and stress in the ancient Atacama desert, Northern Chile. – American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 166: 1, 139–155.
https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23411
Kjellström, A., Storå, J., Possnert, G. & Linderholm, A. 2009. Dietary patterns and social structures in medieval Sigtuna, Sweden, as reflected in stable isotope values in human skeletal remains. – Journal of Archaeological Science, 36: 12, 2689–2699.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2009.08.007
Linderholm, A., Jonson, C. H., Svensk, O. & Lidén, K. 2008. Diet and status in Birka: stable isotopes and grave goods compared. – Antiquity, 82: 316, 446–461.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00096939
Mekota, A.-M., Grupe, G., Ufer, S. & Cuntz, U. 2006. Serial analysis of stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes in hair: monitoring starvation and recovery phases of patients suffering from anorexia nervosa. – Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 20: 10, 1604–1610.
https://doi.org/10.1002/rcm.2477
Moen, M. 2019. Gender and archaeology: where are we now? Archaeologies, 15, 206–226.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-019-09371-w
Mugurēvičs, Ē. 2006. Lībiešu izcelsmes un kultūras veidošanās problēmas. – Latvijas vēstures institūta žurnāls, 4, 15–37.
Müldner, G. & Richards, M. P. 2005. Fast or feast: reconstructing diet in later medieval England by stable isotope analysis. – Journal of Archaeological Science, 32: 1, 39–48.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2004.05.007
O’Connell, T. C. & Hedges, R. E. M. 1999. Investigations into the effect of diet on modern human hair isotopic values. – American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 108: 4, 409–425.
https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1096-8644(199904)108:4%3C409::aid-ajpa3%3E3.0.co;2-e
Oras, E., Tõrv, M., Jonuks, T., Malve, M., Radini, A., Isaksson, S. et al. 2018. Social food here and hereafter: multiproxy analysis of gender-specific food consumption in conversion period inhumation cemetery at Kukruse, NE-Estonia. – Journal of Archaeological Science, 97, 90–101.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2018.07.001
Ottalagano, F. & Loponte, D. 2017. Stable isotopes and diet in complex hunter-gatherers of Paraná River Basin, South America. – Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 9, 865–877.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-015-0308-6
Pētersone-Gordina, E., Gerhards, G., Vilcāne, A., Millard, A. R., Moore, J., Ķimsis, J. et al. 2022. Diet and social status in the Lejasbitēni Iron Age population from Latvia. – Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 44, 103519.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103519
Pētersone-Gordina, E., Gerhards, G., Vilcāne, A., Millard, A. & Moore, J. 2023. The first dietary stable isotope data from the Čunkāni–Dreņģeri Iron Age population (seventh–eleventh centuries CE) from Latvia. – Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 15, 185.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01880-8
Reitsema, L. J. 2013. Beyond diet reconstruction: stable isotope applications to human physiology, health, and nutrition. – American Journal of Human Biology, 25: 4, 445–456.
https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.22398
Reitsema, L. J. & McIlvaine, B. K. 2014. Reconciling “stress” and “health” in physical anthropology: what can bioarchaeologists learn from the other subdisciplines? – American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 155: 2, 181–185.
https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22596
Roberts, P., Fernandes, R., Craig, O. E., Larsen, T., Lucquin, A., Swift, J. et al. 2018. Calling all archaeologists: guidelines for terminology, methodology, data handling, and reporting when undertaking and reviewing stable isotope applications in archaeology. – Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 32: 5, 361–372.
https://doi.org/10.1002/rcm.8044
Schoeninger, M. J., DeNiro, M. J. & Tauber, H. 1983. Stable nitrogen isotope ratios of bone collagen reflect marine and terrestrial components of prehistoric human diet. – Science, 220: 4604, 1381–1383.
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.6344217
Schoeninger, M. J. & DeNiro, M. J. 1984. Nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of bone collagen from marine and terrestrial animals. – Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 48: 4, 625–639.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(84)90091-7
Szpak, P., Metcalfe, J. Z. & Macdonald, R. A. 2017. Best practices for calibrating and reporting stable isotope measurements in archaeology. – Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 13, 609–616.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.05.007
Urtāns, V. 1965. Izrakumi Lejasbitēnu un Lejasziedu apmetnēs, Kalnaziedu pilskalnā un Lejasbitēnu kapulaukā. – Zinātniskās atskaites sesijas referātu tēzes par arheologu, etnogrāfu un folkloristu 1964. gada ekspedīcijām. LPSR ZA Vēstures institūts, Rīga, 21–24.
Urtāns, V. 1970. Etniskās atšķrības apbedīšanās tradīcijās un kapu inventārā 5.–9. gs. – Arheoloģija un etnogrāfija, 9, 105–125, 61–83.
Valk, H. & Laul, S. 2014. Siksälä kalme I: muistis ja ajalugu. Tartu Ülikool, Tartu.
Vasks, A. 2018. The pre-history of Latvia (10500 BCE–1200 CE). – Latvia and Latvians: Collection of Scholarly Articles. Vol. 2, Part 3. Latvian Academy of Sciences, Riga, 9–39.
Vilcāne, A. 2018. The Balts and the Baltic Finns. – Latvia and Latvians: Collection of Scholarly Articles. Vol. 2, Part 3. Latvian Academy of Sciences, Riga, 40–90.
Whitmore, K. M., Dupras, T. L., Williams, L. J., Skipitytė, R., Schultz, J. J. & Jankauskas, R. 2019. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope inter‐ and intra‐individual dietary reconstruction from the late 14th to early 18th century site of Alytus, Lithuania. – American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 168: 2, 279–291.
https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23742
