The Stress Of Farming: Bodies And Health During The Mesolithic And The Neolithic Transition In Serbia

Abstract

The Neolithic transition, the passage from mobile foraging to sedentary farming, was a major shift during human prehistory: a series of behavioral and ecological transformations substantially modified the daily lifestyles and eventually impacted human biology. Studies suggested that this transition positively impactedfertility rates, promoted reproduction and enhanced population fitness; however, bioarchaeological studies carried on human remains have also documented a general decline in health status and a global increase in morbidity, suggesting that the shift toward agriculture also paradoxically had an adverse effect on individuals' physiological fitness. Using 200 Mesolithic and Neolithic skeletal remains (9500-5500 BC) discovered on the territory of Serbia, this research test the assumption that the transition to the Neolithic brought important biological changes which are reflected by a higher prevalence of various skeletal and dental pathological conditions, and by a global reduction in the size of populations under the effect of growth disturbances. Two lines of evidence are compared chronologically and spatially: non specific stress markers (Cribra orbitalia, Porotic hyperostosis, Enamel hypoplasia), indicators of diet (dental caries and calculus), and body proportions (body mass, stature and body mass index).