New research using chemical signatures preserved in human bone has shown that social inequality in the English town of Cambridge could be measured at the dinner table—and, centuries later, in the skeleton itself. By comparing people buried in different cemeteries between the 10th and 16th centuries, researchers found clear dietary differences between ordinary townspeople, wealthy friars, and the poor.
The research, part of the University of Cambridge’s After the Plague project and published in Antiquity, analysed carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bone collagen from four burial sites across the town. These isotopes cannot identify specific meals, but they can indicate the general sources of dietary protein over a person’s lifetime—helping archaeologists distinguish diets heavier in animal protein from those relying more on plant-based staples.
A “whole-town” approach to medieval diets
Dr Alice Rose sampling bone for isotope analysis (credit: S. Leggett)
Medieval texts often describe food as a marker of class, status, and religious identity, but written sources rarely reveal how such distinctions played out for individuals.
“Scholars knew that food was an important social marker in medieval England, and there are lots of textual references to different groups and classes eating differently,” says co-author of the study, Professor John Robb from the University of Cambridge. “We wanted to see if this was simply a stereotype or actually resulted in lifelong choices that affected people’s bodies.”
Many isotope studies have focused heavily on monastic or other institutional communities, so the researchers aimed for a broader cross-section of local society by drawing from multiple cemeteries within the same town and its immediate surroundings.
They selected four burial contexts in Cambridge representing different social positions: two parish cemeteries (All Saints by the Castle serving the urban community and Cherry Hinton for the rural), a wealthy Augustinian Friary, and St John’s Hospital, which offered charitable care for the poor. These sites also allowed the team to track change across several centuries, from the late 10th century through the Reformation era.
The study offers unusually strong numbers for this kind of work: isotopes from 220 adults were analysed, and a local baseline was built using 133 animal samples, alongside published cod data to help interpret marine inputs.
Friars ate differently—and the countryside did too
Cambridge and surrounding area c. AD 1350, showing the locations of the cemeteries analysed (base map: Vicki Herring; modifications: Kevin Moon).
In the results, the Augustinian Friary population stands out sharply, forming what the researchers describe as a distinct isotopic “niche,” with higher values and comparatively little overlap with the other burial groups. The friars, who were living within a well-resourced religious institution, had isotope values consistent with diets rich in animal protein, including meat and fish. By comparison, most townspeople show more limited access to such foods.
The research also highlights an urban–rural contrast. Using All Saints by the Castle as a baseline for “ordinary” townspeople, the rural Cherry Hinton group generally shows the lowest isotope values, suggesting less frequent access to animal and/or marine protein than the town population.
Alice Rose, a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of York and lead author of the study, cautions that isotopes reveal patterns rather than menus. “The isotopic data in itself doesn’t tell you exactly what people ate, but it does give you a general sense of where the protein in their diet came from,” she explains. “If people from wealthier contexts had higher isotopic values, suggesting more of their protein came from animal sources, then we can infer that they might have been eating more meat, fish, and/or dairy.”
Minimum convex polygon of carbon and nitrogen isotope values for individuals from the four sites. Whilst there is overlap, particularly for the hospital population which reflects the varied social backgrounds of individuals buried there, the friary population clearly have higher isotope values than the other sites, indicating their diets were much higher in animal protein. Image credit: Alice Rose
Rose adds that the data supports meaningful social differences in everyday food access: “People in different social groups really did display different isotopic trends suggesting that they may have consumed different kinds of foods”, she explains. “Ordinary people generally had nutritionally adequate diets compared to really poor people receiving charity at the hospital, but wealthier people were able to procure and consume meat, fish, and/or dairy more regularly.”
One of the most revealing patterns comes from St John’s Hospital. Instead of forming a single tight cluster, the hospital burials show the widest range of isotope values and overlap with all the other groups. That may reflect the range of people connected with the institution—not only those receiving charity, but also others tied to the hospital community (including staff, benefactors, and scholars).
The researchers also underline an important limitation: isotope signatures reflect long-term diet, so they cannot always tell how long an individual lived under hospital care—and some dietary signals may reflect life before admission.
Fish in the diet—and what didn’t vary
To support the interpretation of marine and freshwater foods, the research points to archaeological evidence of fish consumption in Cambridge, including remains of marine and freshwater species such as herring, eel and smelt.
It also reports what the team did not find: within each cemetery population, there were no clear isotope differences between males and females, suggesting that dietary distinctions were shaped more strongly by institutional setting and social position than by sex.
Scatterplot of adult (>18yr) rib collagen δ13C and δ15N individual and mean (± 1SD) values for the four medieval sites, with a linear regression line for all adult data. Scatterplot includes medieval faunal-bone collagen δ13C and δ15N individual and mean (± 1SD) values. Statistical testing indicates that the samples are unlikely to have been taken from populations with the same distribution (Kruskal–Wallis: δ13C&δ15Np= <0.001), with post-hoc tests indicating differences in δ13C values between all sites except between All Saints and Cherry Hinton, and in δ15N values between all sites except between the Hospital and All Saints. The data for Cherry Hinton have some degree of skew, yet the data are presented here both as individual points and as mean and standard deviation, to be consistent with the other populations plotted, Image credit: Alice Rose
The researchers conclude that the methods used in this study helped to
limit outside factors and made it easier to interpret social differences more clearly. They write:
Within our data, inter-site differences were greater than intra-site differences, showing that even within a relatively small town, society was detectably partitioned and social differences in diet correlated with burial location. Wealth and religious affiliation influenced diet, particularly in terms of access to marine and terrestrial animal protein. This whole-town approach allows for a more inclusive, intersectional analysis of past societies.
The article, “Detecting social differences in diet in medieval towns: isotopic evidence from Cambridge, England, c. AD 940–1538,” by Alice K. Rose, John E. Robb, Craig Cessford, Sarah A. Inskip, Mary Price and Tamsin C. O’Connell, is published in Antiquity. Click here to read it.
Top Image: Map of Cambridge from 1575 – Wikimedia Commons
New research using chemical signatures preserved in human bone has shown that social inequality in the English town of Cambridge could be measured at the dinner table—and, centuries later, in the skeleton itself. By comparing people buried in different cemeteries between the 10th and 16th centuries, researchers found clear dietary differences between ordinary townspeople, wealthy friars, and the poor.
The research, part of the University of Cambridge’s After the Plague project and published in Antiquity, analysed carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bone collagen from four burial sites across the town. These isotopes cannot identify specific meals, but they can indicate the general sources of dietary protein over a person’s lifetime—helping archaeologists distinguish diets heavier in animal protein from those relying more on plant-based staples.
A “whole-town” approach to medieval diets
Medieval texts often describe food as a marker of class, status, and religious identity, but written sources rarely reveal how such distinctions played out for individuals.
“Scholars knew that food was an important social marker in medieval England, and there are lots of textual references to different groups and classes eating differently,” says co-author of the study, Professor John Robb from the University of Cambridge. “We wanted to see if this was simply a stereotype or actually resulted in lifelong choices that affected people’s bodies.”
Many isotope studies have focused heavily on monastic or other institutional communities, so the researchers aimed for a broader cross-section of local society by drawing from multiple cemeteries within the same town and its immediate surroundings.
They selected four burial contexts in Cambridge representing different social positions: two parish cemeteries (All Saints by the Castle serving the urban community and Cherry Hinton for the rural), a wealthy Augustinian Friary, and St John’s Hospital, which offered charitable care for the poor. These sites also allowed the team to track change across several centuries, from the late 10th century through the Reformation era.
The study offers unusually strong numbers for this kind of work: isotopes from 220 adults were analysed, and a local baseline was built using 133 animal samples, alongside published cod data to help interpret marine inputs.
Friars ate differently—and the countryside did too
In the results, the Augustinian Friary population stands out sharply, forming what the researchers describe as a distinct isotopic “niche,” with higher values and comparatively little overlap with the other burial groups. The friars, who were living within a well-resourced religious institution, had isotope values consistent with diets rich in animal protein, including meat and fish. By comparison, most townspeople show more limited access to such foods.
The research also highlights an urban–rural contrast. Using All Saints by the Castle as a baseline for “ordinary” townspeople, the rural Cherry Hinton group generally shows the lowest isotope values, suggesting less frequent access to animal and/or marine protein than the town population.
Alice Rose, a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of York and lead author of the study, cautions that isotopes reveal patterns rather than menus. “The isotopic data in itself doesn’t tell you exactly what people ate, but it does give you a general sense of where the protein in their diet came from,” she explains. “If people from wealthier contexts had higher isotopic values, suggesting more of their protein came from animal sources, then we can infer that they might have been eating more meat, fish, and/or dairy.”
Rose adds that the data supports meaningful social differences in everyday food access: “People in different social groups really did display different isotopic trends suggesting that they may have consumed different kinds of foods”, she explains. “Ordinary people generally had nutritionally adequate diets compared to really poor people receiving charity at the hospital, but wealthier people were able to procure and consume meat, fish, and/or dairy more regularly.”
One of the most revealing patterns comes from St John’s Hospital. Instead of forming a single tight cluster, the hospital burials show the widest range of isotope values and overlap with all the other groups. That may reflect the range of people connected with the institution—not only those receiving charity, but also others tied to the hospital community (including staff, benefactors, and scholars).
The researchers also underline an important limitation: isotope signatures reflect long-term diet, so they cannot always tell how long an individual lived under hospital care—and some dietary signals may reflect life before admission.
Fish in the diet—and what didn’t vary
To support the interpretation of marine and freshwater foods, the research points to archaeological evidence of fish consumption in Cambridge, including remains of marine and freshwater species such as herring, eel and smelt.
It also reports what the team did not find: within each cemetery population, there were no clear isotope differences between males and females, suggesting that dietary distinctions were shaped more strongly by institutional setting and social position than by sex.
The researchers conclude that the methods used in this study helped to
limit outside factors and made it easier to interpret social differences more clearly. They write:
Within our data, inter-site differences were greater than intra-site differences, showing that even within a relatively small town, society was detectably partitioned and social differences in diet correlated with burial location. Wealth and religious affiliation influenced diet, particularly in terms of access to marine and terrestrial animal protein. This whole-town approach allows for a more inclusive, intersectional analysis of past societies.
The article, “Detecting social differences in diet in medieval towns: isotopic evidence from Cambridge, England, c. AD 940–1538,” by Alice K. Rose, John E. Robb, Craig Cessford, Sarah A. Inskip, Mary Price and Tamsin C. O’Connell, is published in Antiquity. Click here to read it.
Top Image: Map of Cambridge from 1575 – Wikimedia Commons
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