Archaeology, Inequalities and DiEt (AIDE) : Archaeology assisted by stable isotopes

Since 20-years, the candidate has been working as an archaeologist and anthropologist.

The AIDE project - Archaeology, Inequalities and DiEt: Archaeology assisted by stable isotopes - will enable her to acquire additional and innovative skills to respond to a rapidly developing scientific issue: research on social inequalities and their evolution over time.

This will allow her to progress in her career, with a promotion in her institute, and to make a valuable and original contribution to research.

Thanks to the study of compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA) of carbon and nitrogen, the determination of food intake of past populations is more accurate. However, food, like health, is a result of cultural factors. The location of graves in a funeral space is also the result of cultural parameters.

By confronting a heuristic and epidemiological approach, the candidate thus intends to model differences between individuals, to reveal the social inequalities of the past.

The establishment of a network of researchers in Europe (biochemists, archaeologists and anthropologists) will make it possible to study more closely the remains of the past for a better knowledge of our common history.

The transfer of biochemical knowledge from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver (Canada) to INRAP (Paris, France) via the candidate will improve the quality of samples taken from archaeological excavation sites and thus ultimately improve the results obtained.