Environmental implications and evidence of natural products from dental calculi of a Neolithic\u2013Chalcolithic community (central Italy)

Alessia D’Agostino,Silvia Marvelli,Mauro Rubini,Antonella Canini,Elisabetta Rizzoli,Gabriele Di Marco,Angelo Gismondi

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-89999-3

Alessia D’Agostino, Silvia Marvelli + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-89999-3

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Abstract

In this contribution, we investigated the role of plants in the prehistoric community of Casale del Dolce (Anagni, FR, central Italy), through microparticles recovered from dental calculus. The finding of a great amount of pollen types, even in form of compact lumps, could indicate use of natural substances, such as honeybee products and/or conifer resins. This plant-microremain record also suggested environmental implications relative to the Neolithic and Chalcolithic period. Additionally, the stability of the tartar microenvironment had preserved starches and other microparticles, such as one epidermal trichome, a sporangium, and fragments of plant tissue, rarely detected in ancient dental calculus. The detection of secondary metabolites in the ancient matrix confirmed the familiarity of this community with plant resources. All these data supply various interesting food for thought and expand the knowledge about the potential of dental calculus in archaeological and archaeobotanical fields with a special focus on palaeoecology.

Highlights

In this contribution, we investigated the role of plants in the prehistoric community of Casale del Dolce (Anagni, FR, central Italy), through microparticles recovered from dental calculus
Stable isotope signatures of several Neolithic and Eneolithic communities from central Italy would suggest a general sedentary lifestyle and a subsistence economy based on the procurement of local resources, with a general inclination to consume C3 plants and C3 consumer backbone resources
The high pollen variety observed in our pre-historic calculus samples pushes forward this field of research, allowing to hypothesize that the identified species were of local origin. These data would permit us to deduce some floristic-vegetational implications during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic period in central Italy

Summary

Introduction

We investigated the role of plants in the prehistoric community of Casale del Dolce (Anagni, FR, central Italy), through microparticles recovered from dental calculus. The permeation of Gaudo’s culture determined the introduction of a wider range of socio-economic innovations (e.g., changes in settlement structures, cultural assemblages, and mortuary practices), anatomical modernity, and further refinement of the encephalization process, the b rachicrania[3,4] In this regard, the site of Casale del Dolce (185 m.a.s.l., Anagni, Latium, central Italy). More than 500 anthracological and carpological remains (e.g., Carpinus sp., Quercus sp., Pomoideae, Corylus sp.) were detected in the investigated site and a nalysed[5,8] All this evidence would indicate that the Tyrrhenian community of Casale del Dolce was mainly devoted to agricultural practices and maximized the exploitation of the local environment, which had promoted its stabilization in the area. Dental calculus analysis was performed on the human skeletal series of Casale del Dolce, addressing relevant aspects of the exploitation of plant and natural resources

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