Reconstructing dietary strategies in past urban environments is challenging because of the complexity of anthropogenic impacts on food webs, in which diverse local and imported resources with variable isotopic compositions limit the interpretive power of conventional bulk-collagen stable isotope analysis. We address this problem using domestic cats as dietary proxies, exploiting their opportunistic foraging behavior to track resource partitioning within a medieval urban landscape. We present an integrated multi-isotope study of cat bone collagen from medieval Gdańsk (northern Poland) and six regional comparative sites, combining bulk collagen δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S analysis with compound-specific δ13C and δ15N analysis of amino acids. Despite apparent isotopic homogeneity in the Gdańsk assemblage within the conventional bulk collagen dual-isotope space, the expanded isotopic framework reveals substantial individual-level dietary variability. Sulfur isotopes indicate diverse food provenances, including baseline values of the marine ecosystem and grain imported from inland regions. Amino acid-based fingerprinting identifies diets spanning terrestrial C3 and C4, freshwater, and marine ecosystem baselines, while amino acid-based trophic position proxies reveal highly variable individual trophic levels uncorrelated with bulk collagen δ15N values. These findings demonstrate that isotopic homogeneity in the conventional dual-isotope space can mask substantial dietary heterogeneity. Our study highlights the potential of integrating amino acid analysis with sulfur isotope analysis to reconstruct individual-level food choices in complex past environments.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2026
One of the key challenges in the archaeology of sheep domestication is reconstructing the complex history of environmental and anthropogenic transformations undergone by sheep since the beginning of the domestication process of their wild ancestors. In recent years, GMM studies of sheep astragalus bones have contributed to our understanding of morphological differences between wild and domestic caprine species. However, the respective influences of biological and ecological factors on astragalus morphological variations in sheep remain poorly documented. This limitation hinders a comprehensive understanding of its biosystematic resolution and, consequently, its use as a proxy in archaeological contexts to investigate early selective breeding and the emergence of sheep breeds in Southwest Asia. This paper presents the results of a morphological study of 96 astragali using 3D geometric morphometrics, focusing primarily on modern Eurasian and African sheep breeds and landraces. The study is based on a well-documented comparative collection encompassing phenotypical traits (breed, sex, age, presence/absence of horns, coat and tail type, weight, body length); ecological characteristics (climate, geography, environment, elevation, topography); and breeding strategies (mobility). The results demonstrate that the 3D astragalus morphological pattern is a reliable marker for distinguishing one sheep breed from another. They suggest that astragalus morphology is only slightly influenced by phenotypic markers. The study further explores the effects of environmental and climatic factors on phenotypic variation and highlights the potential of the astragalus as an ecomorphological marker. Finally, the current limitations in interpreting the relationship between astragalus morphological variation and mobility strategies in archaeological contexts are discussed.
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