Gregorio Oxilia1,2, Eugenio Bortolini1, Federica Badino1,3, Federico Bernardini4,5, Valentina Gazzoni6, Federico Lugli1,7, Matteo Romandini1,6, Anita Radini2, Gabriele Terlato6, Giulia Marciani1, Sara Silvestrini1, Jessica C Menghi Sartorio1,6, Ursula Thun Hohenstein6, Luca Fiorenza8,9, Ottmar Kullmer10,11, Claudio Tuniz4,5,12, Jacopo Moggi Cecchi13, Sahra Talamo14,15, Federica Fontana6, Marco Peresani3,6, Stefano Benazzi1,14, Emanuela Cristiani2. 1. Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Ravenna, Italy. 2. DANTE Diet and Ancient Technology Laboratory, Department of Oral and Maxillo Facial Sciences Sapienza University, Rome, Italy. 3. C.N.R. - Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria, Milan, Italy. 4. Centro Fermi, Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro di Studi e Ricerche Enrico Fermi, Rome, Italy. 5. Multidisciplinary Laboratory, The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy. 6. Department of Humanities-Section of Prehistoric and Anthropological Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy. 7. Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy. 8. Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 9. Earth Sciences, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. 10. Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. 11. Department of Paleobiology and Environment, Institute of Ecology, Evolution, and Diversity, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany. 12. Centre for Archaeological Science, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. 13. Department of Biology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy. 14. Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. 15. Department of Chemistry "G. Ciamician", University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The analysis of prehistoric human dietary habits is key for understanding the effects of paleoenvironmental changes on the evolution of cultural and social human behaviors. In this study, we compare results from zooarchaeological, stable isotope and dental calculus analyses as well as lower second molar macrowear patterns to gain a broader understanding of the diet of three individuals who lived between the end of the Late Pleistocene and the Early Holocene (ca., 17-8 ky cal BP) in the Eastern Alpine region of Italy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyze individuals buried at the sites of Riparo Tagliente (Verona), Riparo Villabruna, and Mondeval de Sora (Belluno). The three burials provide a unique dataset for diachronically exploring the influence of climatic changes on human subsistence strategies. RESULTS: Isotopic results indicate that all individuals likely relied on both terrestrial and freshwater animal proteins. Even though dental calculus analysis was, in part, hindered by the amount of mineral deposit available on the teeth, tooth macrowear study suggests that the dietary habits of the individuals included plant foods. Moreover, differences in macrowear patterns of lower second molars have been documented between Neanderthals and modern humans in the present sample, due to a prevalence of Buccal wear among the former as opposed to higher values of Lingual wear in modern human teeth. DISCUSSION: Isotopic analyses have emphasized the contribution of animal proteins in the diet of the three foragers from the Eastern Alpine region. The possible intake of carbohydrate-rich plant foods, suggested by the retrieval of plant remains in dental calculus, is supported by the signal of macrowear analysis. Moreover, the latter method indicates that the distribution of macrowear in lower second molars (M2 s) allows us to discriminate between Neanderthals and modern humans within the present reference sample. Overall, our results show these three prehistoric hunter-gatherers were well adapted to the environment in which they lived exploiting many natural resources.
OBJECTIVES: The analysis of prehistoric human dietary habits is key for understanding the effects of paleoenvironmental changes on the evolution of cultural and social human behaviors. In this study, we compare results from zooarchaeological, stable isotope and dental calculus analyses as well as lower second molar macrowear patterns to gain a broader understanding of the diet of three individuals who lived between the end of the Late Pleistocene and the Early Holocene (ca., 17-8 ky cal BP) in the Eastern Alpine region of Italy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyze individuals buried at the sites of Riparo Tagliente (Verona), Riparo Villabruna, and Mondeval de Sora (Belluno). The three burials provide a unique dataset for diachronically exploring the influence of climatic changes on human subsistence strategies. RESULTS: Isotopic results indicate that all individuals likely relied on both terrestrial and freshwater animal proteins. Even though dental calculus analysis was, in part, hindered by the amount of mineral deposit available on the teeth, tooth macrowear study suggests that the dietary habits of the individuals included plant foods. Moreover, differences in macrowear patterns of lower second molars have been documented between Neanderthals and modern humans in the present sample, due to a prevalence of Buccal wear among the former as opposed to higher values of Lingual wear in modern human teeth. DISCUSSION: Isotopic analyses have emphasized the contribution of animal proteins in the diet of the three foragers from the Eastern Alpine region. The possible intake of carbohydrate-rich plant foods, suggested by the retrieval of plant remains in dental calculus, is supported by the signal of macrowear analysis. Moreover, the latter method indicates that the distribution of macrowear in lower second molars (M2 s) allows us to discriminate between Neanderthals and modern humans within the present reference sample. Overall, our results show these three prehistoric hunter-gatherers were well adapted to the environment in which they lived exploiting many natural resources.
Authors: Kurt Lambeck; Hélène Rouby; Anthony Purcell; Yiying Sun; Malcolm Sambridge Journal: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Date: 2014-10-13 Impact factor: 11.205
Authors: Marcello A Mannino; Giulio Catalano; Sahra Talamo; Giovanni Mannino; Rosaria Di Salvo; Vittoria Schimmenti; Carles Lalueza-Fox; Andrea Messina; Daria Petruso; David Caramelli; Michael P Richards; Luca Sineo Journal: PLoS One Date: 2012-11-28 Impact factor: 3.240