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O'Regan, HJ, Wilkinson, DM and Lamb, AJ (2016) The missing mushrooms: searching for fungi in ancient human dietary analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science, 75. pp. 139-143. ISSN 0305-4403
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The missing mushrooms searching for fungi in ancient human dietary analysis.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (512kB) | Preview |
Abstract
Fungi are a common part of modern human diets, but are rarely discussed in an archaeological context. Power et al. (2015) published data on bolete spores in human tooth calculus, suggesting that Upper Palaeolithic peoples ate mushrooms. Here we briefly consider the likelihood of mushroom consumption in the past, and examine whether or not stable isotopes may provide a way of seeing this in archaeological populations. We also consider the complexities of fungal stable isotopes using our own data and that from the literature. We conclude that fungi are highly variable isotopically, and are an additional dietary factor that should be considered when trying to interpret ‘terrestrial’ carbon isotope signatures combined with relatively high nitrogen isotope values in humans and other animals. Substantial mushroom ingestion could, in some cases, result in isotope values that may be interpreted as considerable meat consumption.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | 2101 Archaeology, 0402 Geochemistry |
| Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography Q Science > QH Natural history Q Science > QK Botany |
| Divisions: | Natural Sciences & Psychology (closed 31 Aug 19) |
| Publisher: | Elsevier |
| Date Deposited: | 03 Nov 2016 09:45 |
| Last Modified: | 04 Sep 2021 12:20 |
| DOI or ID number: | 10.1016/j.jas.2016.09.009 |
| URI: | https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/4735 |
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