On the diet of Tycho Brahe and his wife: did they consume fish from stagnant pools?

Abstract

Abstract Radiocarbon dating has been performed on cortical femoral tissue samples from Tycho Brahe (1546–1601) and his wife Kirsten Barbara Jørgensdatter (1549–1604). No discernible reservoir effect has been observed in either skeleton. This combined with unusually high δ15N values and seemingly terrestrial δ13C values, makes us suggest that a large fraction of their protein intake came from freshwater fish raised in stagnant pools.

Keywords

• Tycho Brahe
• Kirsten Jørgensdatter
• Diet
• 13C
• 15N
• Radiocarbon