THE diet of an Iron Age Orcadian woman has sparked intrigue among scientists after they analysed her teeth.
Academics have said that the woman’s unusually seafood-rich diet “flies in the face” of what we know about Iron Age Britain, as there is very little evidence of fish being consumed at that time, according to experts at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI).
It has been suggested that there could have been social restrictions or taboos around the consumption of seafood at the time, which is why the woman, dubbed “The Elder”, is considered a special case.
Experts at UHI analysed a tooth from the woman’s jawbone to gather the data, using techniques that gave them insight into her diet at ages three, seven, nine, 11, 13, and 15 years old – with the conclusion that she had been eating seafood all her life, most likely out of necessity.
The bones were unearthed in 2016 during UHI excavations at The Cairns in South Ronaldsay, Orkney.
It had been placed against the wall of the broch, which researchers believe could have been to mark the end of its life, in a vessel carved from a whale vertebra.
A special role for The Elder?
The relatively few fishbones found in Iron Age middens has raised questions among academics about whether The Elder had a special role or status at The Cairns – one that would explain why her remains were singled out for the deposition that occurred towards the end of the broch’s life.
Martin Carruthers, site director of The Cairns excavations, and a lecturer in archaeology at the UHI Archaeology Institute said: “It’s wonderful to be able to peer into the early, formative years of this older woman’s life and actually establish something of her biographical details.
“It’s remarkable to be able to reach back and solve a problem like the question over her diet, which was previously unclear. Now we can see that the marine foodstuffs that she ate were after all a normal part of life for her, and this allows us to move on with further investigation of the mystery over the apparent lack of seafoods in Iron Age society at this time”.
Anyone wishing to visit The Elder and find out more about her life and times, can visit the Stromness Museum exhibition The Cairns: Living in the Landscape, until October 30, 2022.
