The grasshopper or the ant?: cultigen-use strategies in ancient Nubia from C-13 analyses of human hair

Sections of human hair from naturally desiccated Sudanese Nubian mummies representing X-Group (AD 350-550) and Christian (AD 550-1300) periods in the Wadi Halfa area were analysed by Journal of Archaeological Science, 20 (1993) 657. These data can be interpreted in terms of a model of annual variation of food consumption that apparently remained stable for more than 1000 years. The diet oscillated annually between consumption of 75% C-3 foods (wheat and barley) in winter, to as much as 75% of C-4 foods (millet and sorghum) in the summer. There was little use of stored summer foods in the winter, whereas a small amount (c. 25%) of winter foods were present in the summer diet; part of this may be a carry-over in the form of a C-4 isotopic signal in the flesh of C-3-fed animals. This evidently small use of stored grains suggests that grain storage facilities (granaries) were largely used as emergency measures. During normal years, the diet in a given season was dominated by freshly harvested crops. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.