Abstract
The Neolithic expansion in the Iberian Peninsula is marked by the introduction of livestock and domesticated crops which modified subsistence strategies in an unprecedented manner. Bulk collagen stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis has been essential to track these changes, which have largely been discussed in relation to particular geographic areas or single case studies. This paper reviews the available isotope literature to provide a regional, long-term synthesis of dietary changes associated with the expansion of the Neolithic and the establishment of farming economy in the Iberian Peninsula. Bulk collagen stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values of 763 human individuals and 283 faunal remains from the Mesolithic to the Late Neolithic period in Iberia (ca. 8000–3000 cal BC) were collated and analysed using a Bayesian mixing model. The results show that Mesolithic diets were isotopically diverse in both the Atlantic and Mediterranean regions of the Iberian Peninsula, and that a significant decrease in variability happened with the Neolithisation, culminating with the establishment of farming economies and reliance on terrestrial resources in the Late Neolithic.
Highlights
The spread of agriculture in Europe during the Early to Middle Holocene constitutes one of the most transformative and controversial socio-cultural processes in Prehistory
Archaeological evidence shows that early farmers from the Near East migrated across the Mediterranean Sea following a coastal route from the Aegean to the Iberian Peninsula, bringing with them pottery, ground stone tools and domesticated plants and animals, which marked the beginning of the Neolithic in these regions (Guilaine 2017)
The first domesticates are known for the Mediterranean region of the Peninsula, consisting of cereals and livestock, and Archaeol Anthropol Sci (2019) 11:3825–3836 have been radiocarbon dated to the mid-6th millennium cal BC (Saña 2013; Martins et al 2015; Pérez-Jordá et al 2017)
Summary
Archaeological evidence shows that early farmers from the Near East migrated across the Mediterranean Sea following a coastal route from the Aegean to the Iberian Peninsula, bringing with them pottery, ground stone tools and domesticated plants and animals, which marked the beginning of the Neolithic in these regions (Guilaine 2017). The first domesticates are known for the Mediterranean region of the Peninsula, consisting of cereals and livestock, and Archaeol Anthropol Sci (2019) 11:3825–3836 have been radiocarbon dated to the mid-6th millennium cal BC (Saña 2013; Martins et al 2015; Pérez-Jordá et al 2017). Domesticates were introduced to the south-western Atlantic coast in the second half of the 6th millennium cal BC (Zilhão 2001; Davis and Simões 2015; López-Dóriga and Simões 2015), while in the north Atlantic coast of Iberia, such as the Cantabrian region, the earliest domesticated plants and animals were adopted much later, in the 5th millennium cal BC (Cubas et al 2016)
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