Doctoral Dissertation Research: Examining Diet, Mobility, and Social Dynamics Using a Multi Isotopic Approach and GIS

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).

Throughout human history, many factors have influenced an individual’s mobility and diet, and in many cases, dietary practices have diverged alongside changes in other factors such as social status and belief systems. Using bioarchaeological research methods that combine skeletal analyses with aspects of environment and culture to examine diet and burial style at the population and individual levels, this doctoral dissertation research examines how social reorganization affected a broader community in past human populations.

Exploring dietary choices during life and status after death advances knowledge about how food and burial practices relate to and reaffirm social roles. Broader impacts of the project include STEM training of a female graduate student, strengthening of international scientific research collaborations, and dissemination of research to the public.

The project explores the relationship of belief systems and social status to diet, origins, and mobility. The investigators consider these dynamics in conjunction with age, sex, and status for two skeletal samples representing religious elites and non-elite individuals, respectively, from the same community. The research examines whether there are dietary differences based on potential status differences and whether place of origin can be identified for non-local individuals.

The project utilizes a combination of biochemical, geospatial, and statistical methods, including four isotopic discriminants (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and strontium), the Bayesian FRUITS mixing model, and geospatial analysis of the study region.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.