Multi-isotopic study of the earliest mediaeval inhabitants of Santiago de Compostela (Galicia, Spain)

Patxi Perez-Ramallo (Corresponding author), Aurora Grandal-d'Anglade, Elia Organista, Elena Santos, David Chivall, Ricardo Rodriguez-Varela, Anders Gotherstrom, Francisco Etxeberria, Jana Ilgner, Ricardo Fernandes, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Petrus Le Roux, Tom Higham, Julia Beaumont, Hannah Koon, Patrick Roberts (Corresponding author)

Publications: Contribution to journalArticlePeer Reviewed

Abstract

Santiago de Compostela is, together with Rome and Jerusalem, one of the three main pilgrimage and religious centres for Catholicism. The belief that the remains of St James the Great, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, is buried there has stimulated, since their reported discovery in the 9th century AD, a significant flow of people from across the European continent and beyond. Little is known about the practical experiences of people living within the city during its rise to prominence, however. Here, for the first time, we combine multi-isotope analysis (delta C-13, delta N-15, delta O-18(ap), delta C-13(ap) and Sr-87/Sr-86) and radiocarbon dating (C-14) of human remains discovered at the crypt of the Cathedral of Santiago to directly study changes in diet and mobility during the first three centuries of Santiago's emergence as an urban centre (9th-12th centuries AD). Together with assessment of the existing archaeological data, our radiocarbon chronology broadly confirms historical tradition regarding the first occupation of the site. Isotopic analyses reveal that the foundation of the religious site attracted migrants from the wider region of the northwest corner of the Iberian Peninsula, and possibly from further afield. Stable isotope analysis of collagen, together with information on tomb typology and location, indicates that the inhabitants of the city experienced increasing socioeconomic diversity as it became wealthier as the hub of a wide network of pilgrimage. Our research represents the potential of multidisciplinary analyses to reveal insights into the origins and impacts of the emergence of early pilgrimage centres on the diets and status of communities within Christian mediaeval Europe and beyond.
Original languageEnglish
Article number214
Number of pages28
JournalArchaeological and Anthropological Sciences
Volume14
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2022

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

  • 106018 Human biology

Keywords

  • Paleodiet
  • Mobility
  • Camino de Santiago
  • Pilgrimage
  • Santiago de Compostela
  • Middle Ages
  • HUMAN TOOTH ENAMEL
  • STABLE-ISOTOPE
  • BONE-COLLAGEN
  • NITROGEN ISOTOPES
  • REVISED METHOD
  • SKELETAL AGE
  • BASE-LINE
  • DIET
  • STRONTIUM
  • CARBON

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