High-resolution dietary analysis of the Late Upper Paleolithic Šandalja II (Croatia) humans confirms an aquatic food diet

Abstract

There is increasing evidence from archaeological and especially isotope analysis for the reliance on aquatic foods, including freshwater and marine fish, in later Upper Paleolithic humans in Europe. A previous isotope study of the Late Upper Paleolithic humans and associated fauna from the site of Šandalja II (Croatia) (Richards et al., 2015) showed that the bulk collagen isotope values indicated a diet likely based mainly on freshwater fish. Here we applied high-resolution compound-specific amino acid (CSIA) isotope (carbon and nitrogen) analysis to humans and fauna from this site to refine the dietary interpretation based on the bulk values. We found that both the carbon and nitrogen CSIA results confirm that the two previously-analyzed Late Upper Paleolithic humans from this site were consuming significant quantities of freshwater fish. This supports other isotope studies showing the importance of aquatic foods in Late Upper Paleolithic human diets in Europe.