This research project aims at tracing the life history of ancient Romans through a multidisciplinary analysis of human remains to trace past nutrition and health status. We plan to apply stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of teeth and bones combined with the morphological identification of microremains and the study of ancient DNA in the microbiome preserved in dental calculus: such a combined approach has never been applied in bioarchaeology, making this a pioneering investigation. The principle behind the project lies in the possibility to investigate different moments of the life of individuals from early (teeth) to late (bone) life, while capturing specific events and life conditions (calculus), following an osteobiographic approach.
The sites selected for this study are three towns gravitating around the capital of the Empire; their inhabitants were part of different social classes and were likely subject to very different life conditions: most likely Patricians at Portus Romae, and slaves, freemen, workers and generally poor individuals at Lucus Feroniae and Selvicciola. By combining multiple levels of investigation on various social categories from the roman world we will be able to trace lifestyle at various stages of an individual¿s history (childhood vs. adulthood) and at various levels of the roman society (patricians vs. plebes; men vs. women). The methodology proposed is innovative and the research approach has never been attempted in Italy, making a substantial contribution to bioarchaeological studies on ancient Rome.
