Diet in the Early Bronze Age: a buccal microwear analysis from the plain of Barcelona (Spain)

Abstract

This study aims to characterize the dietary habits of the Barcelona plain (Spain) population during the Early Bronze Age. An analysis of buccal microwear has been performed on 467 samples from 20 individuals buried in the largest cemetery of the plain of Barcelona in this period, the Plaça de la Gardunya, and 1 sample from the site of the Mercat de Santa Caterina. Molars and premolars were examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), and their microwear patterns were compared with reference patterns associated with known dietary habits and subsistence strategies. The results suggest that dietary habits differed between age groups and between sexes: males were more carnivorous than females, and subadults ate harder foods than adults. Buccal microwear from the Barcelona plain shows similar values to carnivorous diets of anthropological populations. Based on all the archaeological evidence (building types and zooarchaeology, archaeobotany and stone tools) from this settlement and those in its vicinity, we propose that the individuals from the Barcelona plain had a mixed diet, with large consumption of meat, secondary products and fish. Agricultural products, stored in silos and grill structures and processed with more sophisticated grinding techniques, were also consumed, mainly by subadult individuals.