Contribution to Mediterranean medieval dietary studies: stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data of marine and catadromous fish from Provence (9th -14th CE)

Marine resources are one of the pillars of the Mediterranean diet. Their mode of acquisition and their consumption in Southern France are still little known to archaeology in medieval periods. However, in other regions of Western Europe and in certain areas of the Mediterranean, archaeological tools have made it possible to reveal hitherto unknown aspects of these practices. This analysis of the isotopic signatures of five marine and catadromous taxa concern three medieval sites in Provence, France (“rue Frédéric Mistral” at Fos-sur-Mer, “le Château” at Hyères and “Couvent des Dominicaines - Parking/Collège Mignet” at Aix-en-Provence) and 127 specimens of Anguilla anguilla, Dicentrarchus labrax, Sparus aurata, Diplodus sargus sargus and Mugilidae. This isotopic investigation provides a crucial and unprecedented reference of the Carbone and Nitrogen isotopic variability of one of the main dietary resources in the Mediterranean world.