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What is on the menu in a Celtic town? Iron Age diet reconstructed at Basel-Gasfabrik, Switzerland

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Abstract

The late Iron Age (150–80 BC) proto-urban site of Basel-Gasfabrik, Switzerland, yielded numerous human skeletal remains, with individuals of all ages and both sexes being found in two cemeteries and in various features of the settlement itself. About 200 inhumations and two cremation burials as well as isolated skulls and bones attest to complex mortuary practices. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of 90 human, 48 faunal, and seven cereal samples provide a rich database for dietary reconstruction. The results point to a diet that was largely based on C3 plants with a limited contribution of herbivore or pig meat and/or dairy products. Divergent isotope ratios can be attributed to the consumption of chicken meat/eggs or seasonally available salmon. Moreover, the contribution of C4 plants, supposedly millet, to human diets is well documented at Basel as well as at other central European Iron Age sites. We found no significant dietary distinctions between males and females. In children, indications for breastfeeding terminate between 1.5 and about 4 years of age, with isotopic differences emerging with regard to the investigated skeletal elements. The stable isotope data from different burial contexts, forms of mortuary practice, and presence or type of funerary objects overlap widely, providing only tentative indications for dietary differentiation within the living population. These findings distinguish Basel-Gasfabrik from other Iron Age sites and call for further integrative studies for deciphering the complex mechanisms behind the highly differentiated mortuary practices in the late Iron Age.

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Acknowledgments

We are indebted to Amy Bogaard and Petra Vaiglova for their kind instructions on sample preparation of the barley grains. Willi Dindorf performed the stable isotope analyses at the Institute for Organic Chemistry at the University of Mainz. Marc Fecher and Alexander Mörseburg contributed to the compilation of the stable isotope data from the literature. Marguerita Schäfer and Richard Frosdick identified numerous bones of human fetuses and infants while screening the faunal remains, and Lucia Wick provided valuable information on landscape reconstruction. We are grateful to David Brönnimann, Philippe Rentzel, Werner Vach, and Ole Warnberg for discussions of the analytical results and comments on the manuscript. Financial support from the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Freiwillige Akademische Gesellschaft Basel, and the Archäologische Bodenforschung Basel-Stadt is gratefully acknowledged. Thoughtful comments by two anonymous reviewers greatly improved the manuscript and are highly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Curt Engelhorn Centre Archaeometry gGmbH, D6, 3, 68159, Mannheim, Germany

    Corina Knipper

  2. Institute of Prehistory and Archaeological Science, Basel University, Spalenring 145, 4055, Basel, Switzerland

    Sandra L. Pichler, Barbara Stopp, Marlu Kühn, Jörg Schibler & Kurt W. Alt

  3. Archäologische Bodenforschung des Kantons Basel-Stadt, Petersgraben 11, Postfach, 4001, Basel, Switzerland

    Hannele Rissanen, Norbert Spichtig & Guido Lassau

  4. Ur- und Frühgeschichtliche und Provinzialrömische Archäologie, Departement Altertumswissenschaften, Basel University, Petersgraben 51, 4051, Basel, Switzerland

    Hannele Rissanen & Brigitte Röder

  5. Center of Natural and Cultural History of Man, Danube Private University, Steiner Landstr. 124, 3500, Krems, Austria

    Kurt W. Alt

  6. State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt and Heritage Museum, Richard-Wagner Str. 9, 06114, Halle/S, Germany

    Kurt W. Alt

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  1. Corina Knipper
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  2. Sandra L. Pichler
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  3. Hannele Rissanen
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  4. Barbara Stopp
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  5. Marlu Kühn
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  6. Norbert Spichtig
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  7. Brigitte Röder
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  9. Guido Lassau
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  10. Kurt W. Alt
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Corina Knipper.

Electronic supplementary material

Supplement 1

Sampled human skeletal remains from Basel-Gasfabrik with burial contexts, grave goods, age and sex determinations and results of carbon and nitrogen elemental and isotope analyses. Due bad preservation or partial excavation the record of grave goods may be incomplete (XLSX 29 kb)

Supplement 2

Sampled faunal skeletal remains and barley grains with archaeological contexts and results of carbon and nitrogen elemental and stable isotope analyses (XLSX 20 kb)

Supplement 3

Method description for osteological and stable isotope analyses (DOCX 19 kb)

Supplement 4

Input data and results of the mixing model FRUITS (XLSX 17 kb)

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Knipper, C., Pichler, S.L., Rissanen, H. et al. What is on the menu in a Celtic town? Iron Age diet reconstructed at Basel-Gasfabrik, Switzerland. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 9, 1307–1326 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-016-0362-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-016-0362-8

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