Final Report Summary - FOOD (Food and Society in Mediterranean Prehistory)
Food has always had a pivotal role in understanding social and cultural practices in Mediterranean prehistory. Evidence for prehistoric fishing, hunting and gathering as well as the inception of food production have traditionally relied on determining the abundance of plant and animal species, particularly from sites (normally caves) with long and continuous occupation sequences. In the Bronze Age, excavations of food remains on settlement sites, finds of vessels associated with food storage and agricultural equipment attest to the importance of food production and the establishment of the Mediterranean staples; principally grain (and other seed crops, such as legumes), olives and wine. The emergence of social complexity is strongly associated with the control over such resources and related redistribution, while feasting has been associated with emerging social elites. The archaeological record (zooarchaeological remains, palaeobotanical data) have often shaped the way we have understood past foodways, carrying the intrinsic bias of representing the food produced or gathered as opposed to the food consumed.
Our project aimed at directly assessing food consumption, through stable isotope analysis of human tissues (bone and dental enamel). Paeodietary data were obtained through stable carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) isotopes from human - and animal - bone collagen, while Sr isotope ratio (87Sr / 86Sr) helped us defining patterns of residential mobility and social practices, mainly in relation to access to specific foods and environments.
We sampled and analysed over 500 individuals for stable C and N isotope and approximately 200 specimens for 87Sr / 86Sr. Study of most of the sites initially selected for analysis was successfully completed; we further collected over about 150 new samples thank to networking during the two years of the project. A significant part of the project was devoted to laboratory activity, either in terms of analytical procedures or technical advancements, both regarded as essential aspects in any isotope investigation.
The isotope data obtained from the largest dataset in Prehistoric Italy, which provide an exhaustive overview on foodways and social practices in the Peninsula. We placed our focus on specific regions, namely the Po plain (in the North of Italy), and the eastern, coastal regions of the southern part of the Peninsula. This choice was mainly driven by earlier pilot studies undertaken by Tafuri (Tafuri et al., 2009).
The paleodietary record is of a substantially homogeneous diet for either Neolithic or Bronze Age groups of the Peninsula, with a number of interesting exceptions. In the north of Italy, our pilot study had hightlighted an unexpectedly early introduction of C4 crops in the Peninsula (Olmo di Nogara). This type or resource that we interpreted as millet (Panicum miliaceum), was hitherto believed to have entered Italy only during the later phases of the Bronze Age and the early part of the Iron Age. We have looked for further evidence of consumption of such crop in the northern regions, through analysing coeval and earlier sites in the proximity of Olmo di Nogara to find that no evidence of C4 plant consumption is attested elsewhere in the North, with Olmo di Nogara representing a striking unicum that call for further investigation.
In the south of Italy, there seem to be a continuous, uninterrupted food habitus, mainly based on the consumption of C3 plant resources (mainly wheat and barley) and a relatively little contribution of animal proteins, that persists from the earlier phases of the Neolithic, to at least the Middle Bronze Age. The lack of evidence of C4 plant consumption, even at later phases mirrors the pattern of spread of this type of crop that has likely reached the northern part of the Peninsula from Central and Eastern Europe and only very lately spread to the southern regions.
We further analysed a selection of sites for 87Sr / 86Sr ratio to reconstruct pattern of mobility within specific regions of the Peninsula. In the Tavoliere (southern Italy), the heterogeneous nature of the sites selected (caves, lowland open ditched villages, highland dwellings), the overall location in the vicinity of the eastern coast of the Peninsula, and the chronological attribution (Early and Middle Neolithic), was extremely promising for an analytical approach that aimed at highlighting patterns of residential mobility and differential origin of the individuals. Data obtained reveal a network of sites, with individuals mainly growing locally with the exception of a few outliers possibly coming from nearby sites included in the network. Furthermore, the only cave examined (Grotta Scaloria) revealed a wider range of Sr signatures so as to suggest that the site was used by a larger group of individuals, possibly of different origin. This confirmed our hypothesis of the cave as a gathering place for the Middle Neolithic communities of the Tavoliere.
The C, N and Sr data proved to successfully highlight the complexity of dietary, as well as social and cultural practices in Italy, where foods not always were equally consumed along the Peninsula, and social implications revealed a fascinating complexity.
Our project aimed at directly assessing food consumption, through stable isotope analysis of human tissues (bone and dental enamel). Paeodietary data were obtained through stable carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) isotopes from human - and animal - bone collagen, while Sr isotope ratio (87Sr / 86Sr) helped us defining patterns of residential mobility and social practices, mainly in relation to access to specific foods and environments.
We sampled and analysed over 500 individuals for stable C and N isotope and approximately 200 specimens for 87Sr / 86Sr. Study of most of the sites initially selected for analysis was successfully completed; we further collected over about 150 new samples thank to networking during the two years of the project. A significant part of the project was devoted to laboratory activity, either in terms of analytical procedures or technical advancements, both regarded as essential aspects in any isotope investigation.
The isotope data obtained from the largest dataset in Prehistoric Italy, which provide an exhaustive overview on foodways and social practices in the Peninsula. We placed our focus on specific regions, namely the Po plain (in the North of Italy), and the eastern, coastal regions of the southern part of the Peninsula. This choice was mainly driven by earlier pilot studies undertaken by Tafuri (Tafuri et al., 2009).
The paleodietary record is of a substantially homogeneous diet for either Neolithic or Bronze Age groups of the Peninsula, with a number of interesting exceptions. In the north of Italy, our pilot study had hightlighted an unexpectedly early introduction of C4 crops in the Peninsula (Olmo di Nogara). This type or resource that we interpreted as millet (Panicum miliaceum), was hitherto believed to have entered Italy only during the later phases of the Bronze Age and the early part of the Iron Age. We have looked for further evidence of consumption of such crop in the northern regions, through analysing coeval and earlier sites in the proximity of Olmo di Nogara to find that no evidence of C4 plant consumption is attested elsewhere in the North, with Olmo di Nogara representing a striking unicum that call for further investigation.
In the south of Italy, there seem to be a continuous, uninterrupted food habitus, mainly based on the consumption of C3 plant resources (mainly wheat and barley) and a relatively little contribution of animal proteins, that persists from the earlier phases of the Neolithic, to at least the Middle Bronze Age. The lack of evidence of C4 plant consumption, even at later phases mirrors the pattern of spread of this type of crop that has likely reached the northern part of the Peninsula from Central and Eastern Europe and only very lately spread to the southern regions.
We further analysed a selection of sites for 87Sr / 86Sr ratio to reconstruct pattern of mobility within specific regions of the Peninsula. In the Tavoliere (southern Italy), the heterogeneous nature of the sites selected (caves, lowland open ditched villages, highland dwellings), the overall location in the vicinity of the eastern coast of the Peninsula, and the chronological attribution (Early and Middle Neolithic), was extremely promising for an analytical approach that aimed at highlighting patterns of residential mobility and differential origin of the individuals. Data obtained reveal a network of sites, with individuals mainly growing locally with the exception of a few outliers possibly coming from nearby sites included in the network. Furthermore, the only cave examined (Grotta Scaloria) revealed a wider range of Sr signatures so as to suggest that the site was used by a larger group of individuals, possibly of different origin. This confirmed our hypothesis of the cave as a gathering place for the Middle Neolithic communities of the Tavoliere.
The C, N and Sr data proved to successfully highlight the complexity of dietary, as well as social and cultural practices in Italy, where foods not always were equally consumed along the Peninsula, and social implications revealed a fascinating complexity.