Diet in high mediaeval Florence through stable isotope analysis of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur

• Dietary pattern of a mediaeval Florence population reconstructed through stable carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotopes. • Diet was mainly composed of C 3 cereals and terrestrial animal products. • The input of animal products was high compared to other published mediaeval Italian sites. In this paper, we aim to reconstruct the dietary habits of supposedly lower rank nobles or middle-class High Middle Ages individuals recovered from the cloister arcade of San Pier Scheraggio within the Uffizi Museum complex in Florence, Italy. Notably, the High Middle Ages was a period of cultural and social changes, which is partly reflected in the dietary habits, as suggested by historical sources. Here we apply stable carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur isotope analysis on humans (n = 34) and animals (n = 13) from San Pier Scheraggio to directly investigate food consumption in this peculiar assemblage. The diet of human individuals was based on terrestrial C 3 sources without clear contribution of marine fish ( δ 13 C mean and 1SD: −19.5 ± 0.7 ‰; δ 15 N mean and 1SD: 9.6 ± 0.4 ‰; δ 34 S values are mean and 1SD: 7.6 ± 1.2 ‰). The comparison with animal and human samples from other Italian Middle Ages contexts shows that the overall diet of the population buried at San Pier Scheraggio is in line with that of other mediaeval communities in Italy, although with a generally higher contribution of terrestrial animal products. Our data seem to suggest that at the site there was no dietary differentiation concerning age at death or biological sex of the individuals. Some differences, however, can be outlined, for example, in the contribution of C 4 crops. In addition to this, we identify two individuals as possible non-locals.