Anthropic resource exploitation and use of the territory at the onset of social complexity in the Neolithic-Chalcolithic Western Pyrenees: a multi-isotope approach

Carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope analyses from bone collagen provide information about the dietary protein input, while strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr) from tooth enamel give us data about provenance and potential territorial mobility of past populations. To date, isotopic results on the prehistory of the Western Pyrenees are scarce. In this article, we report human and faunal values of the mentioned isotopes from the Early-Middle Neolithic site of Fuente Hoz (Anuntzeta) and the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic site of Kurtzebide (Letona, Zigoitia). The main objectives of this work are to analyze the dietary and territorial mobility patterns of these populations. Furthermore, as an additional aim, we will try to discuss social ranking based on the isotope data and existing literature on this topic in the region of study. Our results show that, based on the bioavailable Sr values, both purported local and non-local humans were buried together at the sites. Additionally, they suggest similar resource consumption based on C3 terrestrial resources (i.e. ovicaprids, bovids, and suids) as the main part of the protein input. Overall, this study sheds light on how individuals from different backgrounds were still buried together and shared the same dietary lifestyle at a time in the Prehistory of Iberia when social complexities started to appear

Taphonomic Criteria for Identifying Iberian Lynx Dens in Quaternary Deposits

For decades, taphonomists have dedicated their efforts to assessing the nature of the massive leporid accumulations recovered at archaeological sites in the northwestern Mediterranean region. Their interest lying in the fact that the European rabbit constituted a critical part of human subsistence during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. However, rabbits are also a key prey in the food webs of Mediterranean ecosystems and the base of the diet for several specialist predators, including the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus). For this reason, the origin of rabbit accumulations in northwestern Mediterranean sites has proved a veritable conundrum. Here, we present the zooarchaeological and taphonomic study of more than 3000 faunal and 140 coprolite remains recovered in layer IIIa of Cova del Gegant (Catalonia, Spain). Our analysis indicates that this layer served primarily as a den for the Iberian lynx. The lynxes modified and accumulated rabbit remains and also died at the site creating an accumulation dominated by the two taxa. However, other agents and processes, including human, intervened in the final configuration of the assemblage. Our study contributes to characterizing the Iberian lynx fossil accumulation differentiating between the faunal assemblages accumulated by lynxes and hominins

Isotopic evidence of strong reliance on animal foods and dietary heterogeneity among Early-Middle Neolithic communities of Iberia

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope research on past populations in the Iberian Neolithic has emphasized the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. This study provides the first isotopic insights into the diet and subsistence economy of Early and Middle Neolithic populations from open-air sites in interior north-central Iberia. We present bone collagen carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope ratios for 44 humans and 33 animals recovered from six cemeteries of the Ebro valley and the northern Iberian Plateau. The results obtained are consistent with the C3 terrestrial diets typical of other contemporary south-western European populations, but the spacing between human and herbivore values from Los Cascajos and Paternanbidea sites is higher than expected, and a significant positive correlation is identified between the δ13C and δ15N human values at both. Moreover, the results clearly differ from those of the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic in the same region, which show significantly lower δ13C and δ15N values. These findings contribute to an understanding of the implementation of an agro-pastoral economy in interior Iberia, suggesting a stronger reliance on animal foods among the first Neolithic groups of inner Iberia than in subsequent periods as well as differential access to some resources (possibly suckling herbivores) in the diet, which may point to the existence of early social or economic inequalities that do not seem to be linked to age and sex parameters or to mortuary treatment

Caprine mortality profiles from prehistoric cave‐sites of the northern Adriatic: Livestock strategies or natural death?

This paper poses a question on the interpretation of caprine “kill‐off patterns” in some prehistoric sites of the Caput Adriae (northern Adriatic region, Mediterranean area). In particular, caprine kill‐off data from layers 2 (Late Neolithic‐Copper Age) and 2a (Middle Neolithic) of Grotta dell'Edera (Trieste Karst, north‐eastern Italy) are presented here and compared with those from two neighbouring sites. Distribution of age classes of domestic animals (in particular Caprinae) is generally discussed in terms of exploitation strategies adopted by past communities to obtain different products (e.g., milk, meat, and wool). Nevertheless, emphasis is rarely given to the possible meaning of the presence of foetal individuals and to their relation with neonatal ones. In this sense, it needs to be considered that causes of abortion (e.g., infections or ewe malnutrition) often can also lead to lamb mortality. The presence of a high proportion of neonatal (0–2 months old) and foetal sheep/goat individuals in the sites analysed raises an issue about the possible meaning of the mortality profiles: exploitation of dairy products or just premature death of ill individuals? This issue is important not only to better interpret subsistence strategies of past human communities but also to explore animal disease through time