title: Examining dietary variability of the earliest farmers of south-eastern Italy.
abstract: Stable isotope analysis of human remains has been used to address long-standing debates regarding the speed and degree to which the introduction of farming transformed diet. In Europe, this debate has centered on northern and Atlantic regions with much less attention devoted to the arrival of farming across the Mediterranean. This study presents carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses of collagen from 19 human and 37 faunal remains from eight sites in the Apulia and Marche regions of south-eastern and central Italy, dating to the early phases of agricultural adoption during the first half of the 6th Millennium BC. Where collagen preservation permitted, sulfur stable isotope analysis was also performed. Overall, there was significant isotopic variation between the different geographic regions, although there was also considerable uncertainty in interpreting these data, especially given heterogeneous isotope values for fauna from site to site. By considering isotope data from each region separately, it was noticeable that the degree of carbon isotope enrichment in humans compared to fauna was higher for individuals buried near the coast, consistent with increased marine consumption. Coastal individuals also had higher sulfur isotope values. Nitrogen isotope values were very variable between individuals and regions and, in some cases, were consistent with very high plant food consumption. Overall, early "farmers" in south-east and central Italy consumed a wide range of foods, including marine, and had much more variable stable isotope values than those observed in central and northern Europe during this period, perhaps indicating a different mode for agricultural adoption.
authors.affiliation: Centro di Antropologia Molecolare per lo studio del DNA Antico, Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, 00173 Rome, Italy. roberta.lelli@uniroma2.it
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lelli
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.forename: Gianfranco
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Biondi
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Calattini
authors.forename: Cecilia Conati
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Barbaro
authors.forename: Maria Antonia
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Gorgoglione
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Manfredini
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Martínez-Labarga
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Radina
authors.forename: Mara
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Silvestrini
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tozzi
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rickards
authors.forename: Oliver E
authors.initials: OE
authors.lastname: Craig
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000383:Agriculture / Q000266:history*; D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry; D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D024042:Collagen Type I / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D004032:Diet / Q000266:history*; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D024042:Collagen Type I; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes