Multi-isotope insights into diets, mobility, and environments across millennia in Greece and beyond

Abstract

This dataset extends the original IsoArcH core collection from the Roman world to the wider Greco-Roman sphere and lays the groundwork for a future dataset focusing specifically on Greece across all historical periods. It integrates isotopic data from 92 archaeological sites, predominantly located in Greece, and dated between 3300 BCE and 1900 CE. Based on 53 bibliographic sources, it brings together 2,097 materials and 2,275 samples, including humans, animals, plants, and a few modern environmental specimens. Measurements include δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ³⁴S, and ¹⁴C from organic matter, along with δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O, and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr from mineral fractions. This dataset enables detailed reconstructions of diet, mobility, and environmental interactions across the Greek world through time.

Keywords

• Ancient Greece
• Greco-Roman world
• Dietary habits
• Migration
• Carbon
• Nitrogen
• Oxygen
• Sulphur
• Strontium