When analyzing the evidence provided from the Grauballe Woman site and body, we can gain significant insight to her last meal and her overarching diet. In her stomach, archaeologists found small rabbit bones, porridge made of barley, linseed, knotweed, and pollen grain from mistletoe. When analyzing this, the woman ate a fairly varied last meal. We see a protein source in the rabbit bones, and various plant matter. We know that linseed, knotweed, and mistletoe were available in the spring at the time, so these plants were probably gathered. The barley porridge was likely made from barley they had grown, showing that society was starting to use agriculture. The rabbit bones show that the society hunted, as rabbits were not a likely domesticate. Overall, the contents of her stomach show us her last meal was very plant heavy, with some protein on the side. …show more content…
Her teeth have significant wear, consistent with regularly eating coarse grains or poor quality food. We can assume they were growing barley, so with the knowledge of wear on the teeth there is a possibility they were growing other grains as well. As for the poor food quality, this is often a sign that food is not being cooked. This means that the rabbit she likely ate in her last meal was probably raw. This is much harder to chew through than cooked food, so it will leave more wear on teeth. Her bones also show she had a calcium deficiency. This means that calcium was not a regular part of the Grauballe Woman’s diet. This is an indicator that they probably did not have domesticated animals, as those are often used for meat and milk, and reinforces that they are a hunter-gatherer based society. It also reinforces that her diet was, for the most part, a plant-based diet, as you gain calcium from milk and different domesticated foods, but not just eating different kinds of