Something fishy in Christians : Dietrekonstruktioner genom analys av stabila isotoper på tidigmedeltida skelett från Rambodal, Styrstad Sn, Östergötland

Sammanfattning: Dietary patterns has varied throughout history, both due to resource and cultural limitations. In this thesis, a study was conducted to establish the dietary patterns of eight individuals from an early Midieaval gravesite in Rambodal, Östergötland, in order to explain why they were buried there. This was done through stable isotope analysis on collagen extracted from bone and tooth on the buried individuals. The analysis showed that these indviduals had a diet that was mainly based on freshwater fish. This suggests that these people may have been christians, due to the fact that fish was not regarded as meat and therefore you did not have to abstain from it during periods of fasting. Fish also has a strong idealistic position in Christianity. However, the positions of the buried individulas does not correspond with catholic burial traditions. One explanation for this could be that these individuals were orthodox Christians, possibly from Finland or Russia.