Terrestrial diet in prehistoric human groups from southern Poland based on human, faunal and botanical stable isotope evidence

Abstract

We present stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of animal and human bones from south-eastern Poland, dated to the Neolithic and the Bronze Ages. The analyses are discussed against the background of archaeobotanical data from the studied sites from Miechów and Mozgawa. The mean values of δ13C and δ15N obtained from wheat grains from south-eastern Poland were used to model human palaeodiet. Our results show high levels of plant proteins in the diet, taking into account crop grain enriched in heavy nitrogen instead of the δ15N values for plants estimated from herbivore collagen. Dental abrasion analyses suggests the contribution of a highly abrasive food component in the diet (e.g. from plants). As the number of samples was limited and there were no statistically significant differences between chronological and gender groups, we conclude that despite some small differences in carbon isotopic composition between genders, Miechów site societies were egalitarian in this respect. Despite the presence of millet in the studied area in the Bronze Age no evidence of C4 plant consumption was noted in the δ13C of human and animal bones.