New data on agro-pastoral diets in southern Italy from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age
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ORIGINAL PAPER
New data on agro-pastoral diets in southern Italy from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age Fabiola Arena 1
&
Emanuela Gualdi-Russo 1
&
Jesper Olsen 2
&
Bente Philippsen 2
&
Marcello A. Mannino 3,4
Received: 28 January 2020 / Accepted: 14 September 2020 / Published online: 27 September 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
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. Keywords Prehistoric diet . Stable isotopes . Southern Italy . Neolithic . Bronze Age
Introduction 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). According to a recent meta-analysis of data from another part of the * Emanuela Gualdi-Russo [email protected] 1
Department of Biomedical Sciences and Surgical Specialties, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
2
Aarhus AMS Centre (AARAMS), Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
3
Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Aarhus University, Højbjerg, Denmark
4
Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
Mediterranean (Cubas et al. 2019), the definitive break with previous foraging subsistence strategies occurred during the late Neolithic period. More generally, there was an intensification of agricultural practices in the M
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