Maria Fontanals-Coll1, M Eulàlia Subirà1, Marta Díaz-Zorita Bonilla2, Juan F Gibaja3. 1. GRAPAC, Grup de Recerca Aplicada al Patrimoni Cultural, Unitat d'Antropologia Biològica, Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), 08193, Barcelona, Spain. 2. Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Biogeologie, Tübingen, 72074, Germany. 3. Institució Milà i Fontanals (CSIC-IMF), Archaeology of Social Dynamics AGREST and ICARhEB Groups C/Egipcíaques, 15, 08001, Barcelona, Spain.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The study of subsistence strategies among Neolithic communities in north-east Iberia, late-fifth to early-fourth millennia cal BC, enables a more in-depth study of the activities and behavior of the inhabitants of this region, where paleodiets have been little studied. The objectives of this study are, therefore, to determine the diet and subsistence patterns of those communities and to consider whether any relation existed between their subsistence strategies and environmental, geographic, and/or social factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Bone samples from 25 middle Neolithic human individuals at seven archeological sites and comparative faunal samples were analyzed, and compared with contemporary series in Mediterranean Europe. Carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios (δ13 C and δ15 N) of bone collagen were studied to determine the dietary patterns. RESULTS: Dietary habits proved to be similar between communities, apart from some interpopulational variations in subsistence strategies. Their diet was based on C3 terrestrial resources with a major vegetal protein component. DISCUSSION: The reported variations in interpopulational subsistence strategies among the compared Mediterranean societies do not seem to be directly related to the settlement region. Together with archeological data, this indicates the influence of socioeconomic factors in the Neolithic human diet. A general tendency toward a lesser use of aquatic resources is seen in this period in Iberia and the rest of the Mediterranean, as also documented for contemporary communities in the west and north of Europe. The data obtained will be important for further studies of socioeconomic patterns in European Neolithic societies.
OBJECTIVES: The study of subsistence strategies among Neolithic communities in north-east Iberia, late-fifth to early-fourth millennia cal BC, enables a more in-depth study of the activities and behavior of the inhabitants of this region, where paleodiets have been little studied. The objectives of this study are, therefore, to determine the diet and subsistence patterns of those communities and to consider whether any relation existed between their subsistence strategies and environmental, geographic, and/or social factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Bone samples from 25 middle Neolithichuman individuals at seven archeological sites and comparative faunal samples were analyzed, and compared with contemporary series in Mediterranean Europe. Carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios (δ13 C and δ15 N) of bone collagen were studied to determine the dietary patterns. RESULTS: Dietary habits proved to be similar between communities, apart from some interpopulational variations in subsistence strategies. Their diet was based on C3 terrestrial resources with a major vegetal protein component. DISCUSSION: The reported variations in interpopulational subsistence strategies among the compared Mediterranean societies do not seem to be directly related to the settlement region. Together with archeological data, this indicates the influence of socioeconomic factors in the Neolithic human diet. A general tendency toward a lesser use of aquatic resources is seen in this period in Iberia and the rest of the Mediterranean, as also documented for contemporary communities in the west and north of Europe. The data obtained will be important for further studies of socioeconomic patterns in European Neolithic societies.
Authors: Leonardo García Sanjuán; Juan Manuel Vargas Jiménez; Luis Miguel Cáceres Puro; Manuel Eleazar Costa Caramé; Marta Díaz-Guardamino Uribe; Marta Díaz-Zorita Bonilla; Álvaro Fernández Flores; Víctor Hurtado Pérez; Pedro M López Aldana; Elena Méndez Izquierdo; Ana Pajuelo Pando; Joaquín Rodríguez Vidal; David Wheatley; Christopher Bronk Ramsey; Antonio Delgado-Huertas; Elaine Dunbar; Adrián Mora González; Alex Bayliss; Nancy Beavan; Derek Hamilton; Alasdair Whittle Journal: J World Prehist Date: 2018-05-19
Authors: Cristina Valdiosera; Torsten Günther; Juan Carlos Vera-Rodríguez; Irene Ureña; Eneko Iriarte; Ricardo Rodríguez-Varela; Luciana G Simões; Rafael M Martínez-Sánchez; Emma M Svensson; Helena Malmström; Laura Rodríguez; José-María Bermúdez de Castro; Eudald Carbonell; Alfonso Alday; José Antonio Hernández Vera; Anders Götherström; José-Miguel Carretero; Juan Luis Arsuaga; Colin I Smith; Mattias Jakobsson Journal: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Date: 2018-03-12 Impact factor: 11.205