After the Earthquake: Dietary Resource Use During the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Periods at Helike, Greece

• Author / Creator

  McConnan Borstad, Courtney A

• After a devastating earthquake and tsunami destroyed the Classical city of ancient Helike in 373 BC, the surrounding coastal plain was resettled and was continuously inhabited from the Hellenistic to the Late Byzantine periods. Twenty-eight individuals associated with these post-earthquake periods were analyzed for their bone collagen stable carbon (∂13C) and nitrogen (∂15N) isotope values. The results suggest that diet at Helike was based mainly upon terrestrial C3 plants and animals, with evidence for varying amounts of marine resource use between the time periods. Temporal differences in the human stable isotope values are attributed to the seismic activity of the Helike region, which resulted in the emergence and disappearance of several lagoons during antiquity, including one that had formed directly as a result of the earthquake in 373 BC.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Stable nitrogen isotopes
  • Dietary reconstruction
  • Stable carbon isotopes
  • Helike, Greece
  • Dietary resource use
  • Stable isotope analysis

• Graduation date

  Fall 2013

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R38T10

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.