FOOD INSECURITY AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORDS IN NORTHERN GAUL (7TH-11TH CENTURIES)

• Grant number: 25/08561-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: September 24, 2025
• End date: March 23, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Archeology - Historical Archaeology
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Cândido da Silva
• Grantee: Milena Faboci Spadafora
• Supervisor: Dumezil
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris 4), France
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/18030-8 - FOOD INSECURITY AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORDS IN NORTHERN GAUL (7TH-11TH CENTURIES), BP.MS

Abstract

This research aims to study the food and health situation of the high-medieval population based on the analysis of 11 archaeological sites in Northern Gaul between the 7th and 11th centuries. Bearing in mind the long historiographical tradition of hunger studies in medieval times, the research introduces new analytical approaches and recent terminologies in the area, such as one of the key terms of the research: Food Insecurity. During the 8th to 10th centuries, there was an increase in the number of mentions of famine in written sources and, at the same time, an increase in the volume and quantity of food production and storage structures. Departing from this initial problem, the objectives of the research lie in exploring what the possible reasons could be as to why this could have occurred; and how food shortages and disparities in access to food are archaeologically evidenced. Such an analysis will take into account the data provided by the selected excavation reports, such as: food processing and storage structures (mills, ovens, silos, barns, etc.), carpological and zooarchaeological data, and paleopathological analyzes of graves (through bone and dental stress markers), seeking a more general perspective of these settlements that takes into account a variety of elements present in them. Inserting itself within the framework of hunger and resilience research in pre-modern communities, the aim is to understand how these societies reacted to such episodes of deficiencies and food crises, and how this could combine with the sanitary state producing a synergy of archaeologically visible effects. (AU)