ISOPATH included intensive training aimed at acquiring knowledge and skills in the areas of archaeology, archaeological sciences and isotopic geochemistry. The training-through-research included sample pre-treatment and strontium isotope analyses in the Isotopic Laboratories of Bristol Isotope Group (BIG), and sample pre-treatment and carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses at the Bristol Radiocarbon Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (BRAMS) facility. Research development workshops provided by host institution’s Cultivating Research and Teaching Excellence (CREATE) scheme covered professional and career development, research management, communication and dissemination, and engagement and impact. External training included a course in storytelling and Short Course in Radiocarbon Dating and Bayesian Chronological Analysis provided by University of Oxford. The fellow participated in the University of Bristol’s interdisciplinary Mentoring Circle Scheme, discussing such issues as career development, publishing strategies and work-life balance. The fellow actively engaged and contributed to research and teaching at the University of Bristol. This included becoming a Research Staff Representative of the School of Arts, a Unit Director (for the course “Unlocking Ancient Diet”) at the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, and giving a talk for Department’s Bristol Archaeology and Anthropology Seminar (BAARS).
Within the project a literature survey was performed to develop a methodological approach and interpretative models adjusted to achieve the specific aims of ISOPATH. A novel theoretical framework was developed for unravelling the socio-economic strategies in the studied periods and understanding their evolution. It drew upon insights from theoretical advances in the humanities, and social and natural sciences. ISOPATH explored issues essential for understanding the implementation of specific social and subsistence strategies and their modifications. These were social competition in ritual and day-to-day activities, social benefits of economic specialisation, socio-technological innovations, and adaptations to climate fluctuations or risk in the environment. The experimental component of ISOPATH included seven specific tasks. Firstly, samples of human and animal teeth secured for the project were transferred to Bristol, and a number of short visits in Poland allowed fieldwork to be conducted and collection of environmental samples. Next the baseline samples of modern plants, sediments and teeth of archaeological fauna were prepared and analysed using established isotopic methods. At the same time, samples of tooth enamel and dentin from 100 human individuals were prepared and analysed. Strontium isotope analyses were performed at the University of Bristol, whilst oxygen and carbon isotopes were outsourced to the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, the host of this project’s Secondment. Selected cattle teeth were also analysed using the laser ablation analytical technique. Finally, selected plant macrofossils and well as animal and human skeletal remains were radiocarbon dated at the University of Bristol. The isotopic signatures obtained from baseline samples were used to calculate strontium isotope local ranges with high spatial resolution. All isotopic data for humans and animals (generated by ISOPATH and other projects) was integrated to build a coherent mobility-dietary picture. For diet reconstruction, Bayesian mixing models were applied. Archaeological indicators of local vs. nonlocal origins of particular individuals were evaluated and juxtaposed with their isotopic signatures, sex, age and (where available) aDNA data. A series of radiocarbon dates (available for all skeletons with preserved collagen) provided ISOPATH with a reliable temporal perspective. The project-generated theoretical framework was then applied and an advanced model of the socio-economic development of the studied populations was built.
Dissemination included a talk at the 40th Association for Environmental Archaeology Conference, University of Sheffield, 29 November-1 December 2019, titled “Isotopic analyses of charred plants through the ages. Cases from northern Poland”.
