Study Tracks Diet in Polish City

WROCŁAW, POLAND—According to a Science in Poland report, a team of researchers led by Paweł Dąbrowski of Wrocław Medical University analyzed teeth and samples of dental plaque taken from some 200 people who lived in the city of Wrocław between the late seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries. All of the individuals had been buried in the same cemetery, which was unearthed ahead of construction work. The study suggests that the population ate a diet based on wheat, rye, barley, peas, beans, pork, game, poultry, and herring imported from the Baltic region. They also consumed corn, a food grown in North America. “Its presence shows that average residents of Wrocław also had access to products delivered to the city thanks to the development of overseas trade,” Dąbrowski said. Traces of plants from the pepper and nightshade families, likely in the form of spices and potatoes, were detected in the dental plaque as well. Examination of the layers of enamel in the teeth revealed that most children were breastfed until about 24 to 30 months of age. To read about excavations of another cemetery in a Polish market town, go to "Honoring the Dead."