accueil depuis le 1er mars 2021

Contact  : Marina Nogueira Di Giusto

I am a Bioarcheologist and PhD researcher at the University of São Paulo (Brazil). My research aims to understand the diet during childhood in shell mound groups on the southeastern coast of Brazil, also known as Sambaquis building groups. Sambaqui is a specific type of archaeological site present on the Brazilian coast, built with shells and fish bones over thousands of years. I will work at LAMPEA for 01 year, under the supervision of Dr. Estelle Herrscher.

Research topic

“A Bioarchaeology of Childhood : Notes about Infant Diet among Shellmound Builders through the analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes"

Breastfeeding and weaning behaviors have an impact on the mortality of infants because infants no longer receive passive immunity from their mothers, and they are exposed to new sources of infection through the weaning diet. Stable isotopic ratios from dentine and bone collagen of adults and subadults will be used to infer the prevalence and duration of breastfeeding, weaning and the post-weaning diet.

This project aims to identify the duration of exclusive breastfeeding, weaning age, and postweaning diet, to compare these with infant and child mortality, and to assess whether there was a relationship between them in pre-columbian shell mound
groups from Brazil.
The materials are teeth and bones from human remains buried in two shell mounds located on the southeast coast of Brazil. These sites have a high proportion of subadults skeletal remains that reflect high rates of child mortality. This study will correlate paleodiet analyzes (δ13C and δ15N analyzes), osteological analyses (Linear Enamel Hypoplasia, Porotic Hyperostosis, and Cribra Orbitalia) and infant/child mortality and morbidity, to test the hypothesis that (1) breastfeeding and weaning processes are correlated with pathological skeletal lesions and post-neonatal mortality, and (2) the mother’s health is correlated with neonatal mortality.

Supervisors :
For isotopic part :
– Estelle Herrscher (LAMPEA, Aix-en-Provence)
– Klervia Jaouen (GET, Toulouse)

For bio-archaeological part :
– Veronica Wesowski (Assistant Professor, Bioarchaeology, Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, University of São Paulo)

Grant : Doctoral Sandwich mobility program funded by the CAPES Foundation (Brazilian Government)

Member of Programme P3 of LAMPEA

Teaching

Conference

Publications