古代ローマ人、現代イタリア人の３倍の海の幸　研究

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】古代ローマ時代に海辺で暮らしていた人々は現代のイタリア人よりずっと多く魚を食べていたことが、西暦７９年のベズビオ火山噴火による犠牲者の遺骨の調査で明らかになった。また、男性は女性よりも高級食材を多く食べていたことも分かった。（写真はイタリア・ナポリ近郊エルコラノにある古代ローマ都市ヘルクラネウムの遺跡）
　調査結果は２５日の米科学誌サイエンス・アドバンシズに掲載された。英ヨーク大学のチーム率いる研究者らは、１８世紀まで火山灰に埋もれていた古代ローマの沿岸都市ヘルクラネウムで発掘された成人の遺骨のうち１７体について、アミノ酸分析を行った。アミノ酸はタンパク質の構成要素だ。
　アミノ酸の炭素・窒素の安定同位体比を調べて統計モデルにあてはめることで、異なる食品群の識別精度を従来より高めることができた。
　論文の主執筆者で博士課程の学生シルビア・ソンチン氏は「彼らの食事に占める海産物の割合が驚くほど高いことが分かった」とし、現代の地中海沿岸地域の住民の約３倍だったと話した。

■男女格差
　１７人の内訳は男性１１人、女性６人だったが、男女間の著しい違いも明らかになった。海産物から摂取するタンパク質が、男性は女性の平均１．５倍だったのだ。
　また、穀類からのタンパク質摂取も男性は女性よりやや多かった。女性は動物由来の食品や地元で取れた果物や野菜からより多くタンパク質を取っていた。
　研究チームによると、これにはいくつかの理由が考えられ、男性が女性より漁業に携わることが多かったことがその一つだ。また歴史的記録によると、マグロのようなある種の魚は古代ローマ社会では高級食品とみなされ、男性の手に渡ることが多かった。
　さらに別の理由として、ヘルクラネウムはエリート層の保養地として知られていたが、同時に多くの奴隷や奴隷から解放された人の街でもあったことが挙げられる。
　男性の奴隷は女性の奴隷よりも解放されるチャンスが高く、また一般的により若い年齢で解放されたため、望む食べ物を手に入れることができたというのだ。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/08/27-12:55）

A team of archeologists examining the remains of victims from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD have discovered coastal people of the time ate far more fish than modern Italians, with men getting more of the high-status food than women.
The researchers, led by a team at the University of York, analyzed amino acids -- the building blocks of proteins -- in 17 adult skeletons excavated from the city of Herculaneum, a popular seaside resort that remained buried under volcanic ash until the 18th century.
By studying the ratio of carbon and nitrogen isotopes of the amino acids and applying a statistical model, they were able to differentiate between food groups with a new level of precision, the team wrote in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday.
Lead author and PhD student Silvia Soncin told AFP that Herculaneum provided an extraordinary population to study historic diets because the natural disaster gives archeologists a snapshot in time.
Cemeteries are usually used over a certain period, we're talking about hundreds of years, and the food sources may have changed because of changing climate or different trade routes, she said.
Though Herculaneum and nearby Pompeii were destroyed by the volcano, most inhabitants managed to escape in time, senior author Oliver Craig, a professor of bioarcheology told AFP.
The 11 men and six women studied by the team were picked at random from 340 people who died on the beach and from nine adjacent fornici -- stone chambers for boats -- where they had sought shelter from the pyroclastic flow.
We found a surprisingly high amount of marine contribution to the diet of these people, particularly compared to the modern Mediterranean population, said Soncin, with the ancient dwellers eating about three times the amount of seafood compared to their counterparts today.
Herculaneum's sewers were filled with fish bones, prior research has shown. Typical species would have included porgies, tuna and shellfish.
- Gender gap -
They also discovered a significant sex gap within the group, with males on average getting 50 percent more of their protein from seafood compared to females.
Men also got slightly more protein from cereals compared with their female contemporaries, while women obtained more of their proteins from animal products and locally grown fruits and vegetables.
The team put forward several possible reasons: men may have been more involved in fishing than women, but the historical record also shows that certain fish such as tuna were considered high-status food in Roman society, with men having more access.
Another aspect is that, although Herculaneum was known as a resort for the elite, it was also home to many slaves and freedmen, said Craig.
Male slaves had a higher chance of emancipation than women and were generally freed at an earlier age, giving them more access to coveted foods.
Now we've got a way and approach for actually quantifying diet in the past, so what we want to do is apply this more widely through time and space, said Craig.
He hopes to next examine how quickly diets shifted when prehistoric humans moved from hunter-gathering activities to agricultural societies.