Abstract
The socio-cultural and economic developments that took place from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age are poorly understood, despite the fact that they were essential for the establishment of fully agro-pastoral economies in Europe. In this study, we aim to assess dietary changes in communities living in southern Italy during this period by examining stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios on human bone collagen. In particular, we investigated skeletal remains from seven sites in the southern Italian regions of Calabria (Grotta della Monaca, Grotta di Donna Marsilia and Grotta dell’Antenato), Basilicata (Murgia Timone, Grotta Funeraria and Toppo d’Aguzzo) and Apulia (Ipogeo dei Bronzi) to explore possible variations in diet between different geographic areas and periods. The results of the analysis on bone collagen extracts from 33 human and 12 faunal (sheep, dog, cattle and pigs) specimens attest that the diets of prehistoric southern Italians were mixed and based on the consumption of terrestrial resources, including generally moderate proportions of animal protein (e.g. meat and dairy products) and of C3 plants (e.g. cereals and legumes). Minor differences in the proportion of consumed meat are mostly dependent on the nature of regional environments, with individuals from Basilicata relying more on animal protein than those from Calabria and Apulia. Our study provides insights into the dietary habits of southern Italian populations during the prehistoric period that witnessed an increase both in agriculture and in pastoralism.
Highlights
In the Adriatic regions, farming spread from the Dalmatian coasts across to Italy mainly during the 6th millennium BCE, as demonstrated by the occurrence of domesticated wheat and barley, with the simultaneous appearance of pottery and the use of obsidian and ground stone (Skeates 2000; Zilhão 2001; Starnini 2002; Guilaine 2003)
This study aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the diet for the communities living in prehistoric southern Italy, to clarify findings that emerged in previous research and to add new isotopic data to the literature
All the 39 specimens yielded wellpreserved collagen according to the criteria proposed by van Klinken (1999), except specimen IpB06 with a low yield of 0.5%, and this sample is to be considered with caution
Summary
In the Adriatic regions, farming spread from the Dalmatian coasts across to Italy mainly during the 6th millennium BCE, as demonstrated by the occurrence of domesticated wheat and barley, with the simultaneous appearance of pottery and the use of obsidian and ground stone (Skeates 2000; Zilhão 2001; Starnini 2002; Guilaine 2003). The shift from foraging to farming, from gathering to food production and from wild to domestic resource consumption clearly occurred at this time in southern Italy, as is demonstrated in the farming settlements of the Murge and Tavoliere (Pessina and Tiné 2008; Lelli et al 2012). As reported by Lelli et al (2012) for early Neolithic individuals from coastal and inland sites of Marche, Apulia and Basilicata, dietary differences were present regionally in relation to the consumption of marine and terrestrial animal and plant resources. The estimated fraction of marine fish in the total diet by dry weight was 6 to 30% for coastal sites of Marche and Apulia and 0 to 15% for inland sites of the Tavoliere in Apulia and Murge in Basilicata; both at coastal and at inland sites, most of the diet was centred on terrestrial resources (Lelli et al 2012), the first farmers of Italy adapted their diet to exploit different
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