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Diet and ethnicity during the Viking colonization of northern Scotland: evidence from fish bones and stable carbon isotopes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

James H. Barrett ,
Roelf P. Beukens  and
Rebecca A. Nicholson
James H. Barrett
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, The King's Manor, University of York, York YO1 7EP, England.
Roelf P. Beukens
Affiliation:
Iso Trace Laboratory, University of Toronto, Toronto, ONT M5S 1A7, Canada.
Rebecca A. Nicholson
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeological Sciences, Universtiy of Bradford BD7 1DP, England.
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Extract

Diet and ethnicity are strongly related. Recent work on fish-bone ratios and stable carbon isotopes suggest that the Vikings increased the fish contribution to the diet of Orkney and Shetland by a greater investment in deep-sea fishing.

Keywords

Vikingsfish bonesOrkneyShetlandcarbon isotopes

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Papers
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Antiquity , Volume 75 , Issue 287 , March 2001 , pp. 145 - 154
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2001

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