{"id":151,"date":"2020-11-13T11:18:32","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T11:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archemy.ee\/?page_id=151"},"modified":"2026-05-12T15:02:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T12:02:20","slug":"pots-and-bones","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/archemy\/pots-and-bones\/","title":{"rendered":"Pots and bones"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pots and bones, lipids and proteins: biomolecular archaeology for ancient dietary studies<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PI\u00a0Ester Oras<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Period:<\/strong>\u202f 01.01.2020\u201331.12.2024\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Outset of the Project<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Existing research in Estonia lacks comprehensive information on ancient foodways, and\u00a0available evidence\u00a0remains\u00a0fragmented. Our project aims to significantly advance the understanding of ancient foodways by employing (a) combined multiproxy analysis of direct food-related archaeological material \u2013 pottery, human skeletal remains, faunal and botanical assemblages, and (b) testing novel\u00a0cutting-edge\u00a0instrumental techniques for\u00a0analysing\u00a0these dietary sources. For Northern Estonia, the study will deliver the most detailed biomolecular reconstruction of ancient diets to date, spanning 6,000 years from the Middle Stone Age to the Middle Ages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The project combines archaeology, environmental sciences, biomolecular analysis, and analytical chemistry through a multiproxy research design that analyses various archaeological materials. It tests novel instruments and develops methods for integrating diverse dietary evidence, including statistical modelling. A large sample base\u2014over 200 pottery vessels, 100 human skeletons, and extensive faunal and plant collections\u2014supports the creation of long-term and spatially rich dietary reconstructions.\u00a0The results will be embedded within broader historical and cultural narratives and will lay the foundations for future research and teaching.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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At Its Conclusion<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project demonstrated significant methodological innovations in biomolecular archaeology and provided new insights into long\u2011term dietary change in the Baltic\u2013Nordic region. In addition, it led to the founding of the Archemy research group and laboratory, creating a unique interdisciplinary network at the University of Tartu that links archaeology, analytical chemistry, geology, and genomics. This development has made it the first archaeochemistry competence center on the eastern Baltic coast.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>

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View project in ETIS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project is funded by the Estonian Research Council, under the\u00a0ETAg Start-up grant PSG492.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pots and bones, lipids and proteins: biomolecular archaeology for ancient dietary studies.\u00a0 PI\u00a0Ester Oras\u00a0 Period:\u202f 01.01.2020\u201331.12.2024\u00a0 At the Outset of the Project\u00a0 Existing research in Estonia lacks comprehensive information on ancient foodways, and\u00a0available evidence\u00a0remains\u00a0fragmented. Our project aims to significantly advance …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":953,"featured_media":3143,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-151","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/archemy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/archemy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/archemy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/archemy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/953"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/archemy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/archemy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3370,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/archemy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/151\/revisions\/3370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/archemy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/archemy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}