Experimental Archaeology and the Sustainability of Dental Calculus Research: The Case of Chocolate and the Nuns Of S. Maria Della Stella’s Church, Saluzzo, Italy

In Italy, chocolate (Theobroma cacao L.) was introduced during the Columbian exchange, and it quickly became both an important and accessible part of the Italian culinary tradition. Today, Italy is Europe’s second-largest chocolate producer. This project explored the potential of a new methodological approach to investigate the history of chocolate by combining experimental archaeology with micromorphological and chemical analysis of dental calculus from the skeletal remains of a post-medieval monastic community (Saluzzo, Italy) known from historical documents to have consumed chocolate products. Although the results obtained showed no traces of chocolate in the analyzed dental calculus from the nuns of Saluzzo, through experimental work, we were able to identify markers diagnostic for T. cacao both in the experimental chocolate recipes, which we recreated, and in modern dental calculus, showing the potential for the application of these methodologies

Bioarchaeological and paleogenomic profiling of the unusual Neolithic burial from Grotta di Pietra Sant'Angelo (Calabria, Italy).

Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank Dr. Leonardo Larocca, medical officer of San Lorenzo Bellizzi, who supervised the research on the modern inhabitants, and Dr. Andrea De Giovanni, who helped in the sampling processes. A special acknowledgement goes to the population of San Lorenzo Bellizzi, the mayor and the administration of the municipality, whose efforts and inseparable link to their roots made this study possible. This work is sustained by the MIUR-PRIN 20177PJ9XF grant to DL.The Neolithic burial of Grotta di Pietra Sant'Angelo (CS) represents a unique archaeological finding for the prehistory of Southern Italy. The unusual placement of the inhumation at a rather high altitude and far from inhabited areas, the lack of funerary equipment and the prone deposition of the body find limited similarities in coeval Italian sites. These elements have prompted wider questions on mortuary customs during the prehistory of Southern Italy. This atypical case requires an interdisciplinary approach aimed to build an integrated bioarchaeological profile of the individual. The paleopathological investigation of the skeletal remains revealed the presence of numerous markers that could be associated with craft activities, suggesting possible interpretations of the individual's lifestyle. CT analyses, carried out on the maxillary bones, showed the presence of a peculiar type of dental wear, but also a good density of the bone matrix. Biomolecular and micromorphological analyses of dental calculus highlight the presence of a rich Neolithic-like oral microbiome, the composition of which is consistent with the presence pathologies. Finally, paleogenomic data obtained from the individual were compared with ancient and modern Mediterranean populations, including unpublished high-resolution genome-wide data for 20 modern inhabitants of the nearby village of San Lorenzo Bellizzi, which provided interesting insights into the biodemographic landscape of the Neolithic in Southern Italy

Bioarchaeological and paleogenomic profiling of the unusual Neolithic burial from Grotta di Pietra Sant’Angelo (Calabria, Italy)

Abstract The Neolithic burial of Grotta di Pietra Sant’Angelo (CS) represents a unique archaeological finding for the prehistory of Southern Italy. The unusual placement of the inhumation at a rather high altitude and far from inhabited areas, the lack of funerary equipment and the prone deposition of the body find limited similarities in coeval Italian sites. These elements have prompted wider questions on mortuary customs during the prehistory of Southern Italy. This atypical case requires an interdisciplinary approach aimed to build an integrated bioarchaeological profile of the individual. The paleopathological investigation of the skeletal remains revealed the presence of numerous markers that could be associated with craft activities, suggesting possible interpretations of the individual’s lifestyle. CT analyses, carried out on the maxillary bones, showed the presence of a peculiar type of dental wear, but also a good density of the bone matrix. Biomolecular and micromorphological analyses of dental calculus highlight the presence of a rich Neolithic-like oral microbiome, the composition of which is consistent with the presence pathologies. Finally, paleogenomic data obtained from the individual were compared with ancient and modern Mediterranean populations, including unpublished high-resolution genome-wide data for 20 modern inhabitants of the nearby village of San Lorenzo Bellizzi, which provided interesting insights into the biodemographic landscape of the Neolithic in Southern Italy