Bones from the labyrinth: Faunal evidence for management and consumption of animals at Neolithic and Bronze Age Knossos, Crete.

Animals feature extensively in the iconography and written records of Bronze Age Crete, and in archaeological debates ranging from initial colonisation in the 7th millennium BC, through expansion of settlement across the island in the 4th-3rd millennia, to surplus mobilisation and feasting by the 2nd millennium palaces. To date, however, faunal remains---the most widely available evidence for human use of animals---have been neglected: detailed reports of large assemblages are non-existent and faunal evidence features rarely in works of synthesis. This thesis undertakes a diachronic study of a large faunal assemblage from Knossos---the largest and longest-lived site on Crete. The faunal assemblage derives from different excavations and areas, enforcing careful evaluation of retrieval, modification by previous analysts, survival and, where archaeological information permits, contextual variation in discard behaviour. Attrition is lower in built-up than open areas through the 7-3 millennia, and very low in the suggested 'public/elite' core area of 2nd millennium Knossos. Butchery into big 'parcels' and subsequent dispersal of bones in the former period suggests reciprocal sharing, while intensive butchery and structured deposition in the latter suggest assymetrical feasts emphasising distribution of meat to participants. Butchery evidence also indicates rapid, wholesale adoption of metal in the 3rd millennium. Feral populations of pigs and perhaps goats may have caused introductions of deer to fail. Domesticates, predominant throughout, were managed for diverse products in the 7-4 millennia, including traction with cows. Increased adult and male survivorship in the 3rd millennium indicates potential specialisation in traction, wool and hair, but persistence of this pattern in the 2nd millennium 'public/elite core' also suggests demand for impressively large carcasses. Results of broad significance include reciprocal sharing, early traction with cows, rapid adoption of metal and linkage between feasting and secondary products management

Strontium isotope evidence for human mobility in the Neolithic of northern Greece

Strontium isotope ratios are widely used in archaeology to differentiate between local and non-local populations. Herein, strontium isotope ratios of 36 human tooth enamels from seven archaeological sites spanning the Early to Late Neolithic of northern Greece (7th–5th millennia B.C.E.) were analysed with the aim of providing new information relating to the movement of humans across the region. Local bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr signals were established using tooth enamel from 26 domestic animals from the same Neolithic sites. 87Sr/86Sr values of faunal enamel correlate well with predicted strontium isotope ratios of the local geology. This is consistent with animal management occurring at a local level, although at Late Neolithic sites strontium isotope values became more varied, potentially indicating changing herding practices. The strontium isotope analysis of human tooth enamel likewise suggests limited population movement within the Neolithic of northern Greece. Almost all individuals sampled exhibited 87Sr/86Sr values consistent with having spent their early life (during the period of tooth mineralisation) in the local area, although movement could have occurred between isotopically homo- geneous areas. The strontium isotope ratios of only three individuals lay outside of the local bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr range and these individuals are interpreted as having spent their early lives in a region with a more radiogenic biologically available 87Sr/86Sr. Mobility patterns determined using Sr isotope analysis supports the current evidence for movement and exchange observed through studies of pottery circulation. Suggesting limited movement in the Early and Middle Neolithic and greater movement in the Late Neolithic

Refining human palaeodietary reconstruction using amino acid delta N-15 values of plants, animals and humans.

An established method of estimating the trophic level of an organism is through stable isotope analysis of its tissues and those of its diet. This method has been used in archaeology to reconstruct past human diet from the stable nitrogen isotope (d15N) values of human and herbivore bone collagen. However, this approach, using the 15N-enrichment of human bone collagen d15N values over associated herbivore bone collagen d15N values to predict the relative importance of animal protein, relies on the assumptions that: (i) the d15N values of plants consumed by humans and herbivores are identical, and (ii) the 15Nenrichment between diet and consumer is consistent. Bone collagen amino acid d15N values have the potential to tackle these uncertainties, as they constrain the factors influencing bone collagen d15N values. In this study, the d15N values of glutamic acid and phenylalanine in human and herbivore bone collagen isolates from Neolithic sites in Germany, Greece and Turkey were determined by gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry. The fraction of animal protein in total dietary protein consumed by the humans was estimated by: (i) comparing bulk human and herbivore collagen d15N values, (ii) comparing bulk human and herbivore collagen and ancient charred cereal grain d15N values, (iii) comparing human bone collagen d15NGlutamic acid and d15NPhenylalanine values, and (iv) comparing d15NGlutamic acid values of human and herbivore bone collagen and estimated d15NGlutamic acid values of ancient charred cereal grains. Where determined cereal grain d15N values are higher than estimated herbivore forage values, estimates of animal protein consumption are significantly lower, emphasising the importance of the plant nitrogen contribution to human bone collagen. This study also highlights the need for further investigation into: (i) the D15NConsumer-Diet values of glutamic acid and phenylalanine in terrestrial ecosystems, and (ii) D15NGlutamic acid-Phenylalanine values of common plant foods in order to improve the accuracy and more widespread applicability of amino acid-based methods for palaeodietary reconstruction

A bottom-up view of food surplus: using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to investigate agricultural strategies and diet at Bronze Age Archontiko and Thessaloniki Toumba, northern Greece

We use stable isotope analysis of crop, faunal and human remains to investigate agricultural strategies and diet at EBA-LBA Archontiko and MBA-LBA Thessaloniki Toumba. Crop production strategies varied between settlements, phases and species; flexibility is also apparent within the crop stores of individual houses. Escalating manuring intensity at LBA Thessaloniki Toumba coincides with large co-residential ‘blocks’ geared towards hoarding of agricultural surpluses, spectacularly preserved by fire at nearby LBA Assiros Toumba. Faunal isotope values reflect a range of feeding strategies, including probable herding of cattle on C4-rich coastal salt marshes, evident at Archontiko through to the LBA alongside bulk cockle harvesting. Palaeodietary analysis of LBA humans at Thessaloniki Toumba indicates that C3 crops represent the only plausible staples. Millet was a minor food but may have played a particular role in the sub-adult diet. Meat probably featured in supra-household food sharing and hospitality, associated with Mycenaean-style tableware in the LBA

Meaningful materials? Bone artefacts and symbolism in the Early Bronze Age Aegean

The symbolically laden use of materials is well documented ethnographically but hard to demonstrate archaeologically, especially for animal bones and teeth, use of which in post-Neolithic contexts is commonly considered expedient. Early Bronze Age southern Aegean mortuary assemblages have yielded three distinctive classes of bone artefact. Comparison with contemporary unworked bone assemblages and contextually or formally related objects in other materials reveals complex cultural associations, the symbolic meaning of which is explored through heuristic use of ethnographic analogues. It is concluded that alternative value systems operated alongside those structured around exoticism and technological sophistication, usually deployed to understand EBA southern Aegean cultures

Meaningful materials? Bone artefacts and symbolism in the Early Bronze Age Aegean

The symbolically laden use of materials is well documented ethnographically but hard to demonstrate archaeologically, especially for animal bones and teeth, use of which in post-Neolithic contexts is commonly considered expedient. Early Bronze Age southern Aegean mortuary assemblages have yielded three distinctive classes of bone artefact. Comparison with contemporary unworked bone assemblages and contextually or formally related objects in other materials reveals complex cultural associations, the symbolic meaning of which is explored through heuristic use of ethnographic analogues. It is concluded that alternative value systems operated alongside those structured around exoticism and technological sophistication, usually deployed to understand EBA southern Aegean cultures

Carcasses, ceramics, and cooking at Makriyalos I: Towards an integrated approach to human diet and commensality in Late Neolithic northern Greece

Taking the Neolithic of northern Greece, and particularly the Late Neolithic flat-extended site of Makriyalos I, as a case study, we explore the challenges and potential of using multiple evidential categories and diagnostic tools to investigate human diet and commensality. This requires integration of datasets from several specialized sub-disciplines with contrasting methodological strengths and weaknesses and offering distinctive and selective proxies for past foodways. With due attention to such differences, ostensibly contradictory datasets may shed complementary light on Neolithic diet and commensality. Here we evaluate the principal available dietary proxies for the Neolithic of northern Greece, situate Makriyalos I in its regional settlement context, and then discuss in turn likely subsistence patterns, commensal practices, and the role therein of the consumption of domestic animals. We argue that animals were of secondary nutritional importance in a largely grain-based diet, but central to occasional commensality transcending the small (household?) groups that shared daily meals. In exploring commensality, we attempt to integrate results of macroscopic, microscopic and isotopic studies of animal bones/teeth, human skeletal remains, and ceramic cooking pots and tableware. While these different datasets are in some respects mutually consistent, apparent discrepancies between δ13C values in cattle remains and those in human bone and ceramic lipid residues reveal otherwise undetected variability in commensal practices. The complexity of commensal practices, and thus social relations, at Makriyalos I is becoming increasingly evident from ongoing analyses of various datasets and especially from attempts to integrate their complementary insights

A bottom-up view of food surplus: Using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to investigate agricultural strategies and diet at Bronze Age Archontiko and Thessaloniki Toumba, northern Greece

We use stable isotope analysis of crop, faunal and human remains to investigate agricultural strategies and diet at EBA-LBA Archontiko and MBA-LBA Thessaloniki Toumba. Crop production strategies varied between settlements, phases and species; flexibility is also apparent within the crop storesof individual houses. Escalating manuring intensity at LBA Thessaloniki Toumba coincides with large co-residential ‘blocks’ geared towards hoarding of agricultural surpluses, spectacularly preserved by fire at nearby LBA Assiros Toumba. Faunal isotope values reflect a range of feeding strategies, including probable herding of cattle onC4-rich coastal salt marshes, evident at Archontiko through to the LBA alongside bulk cockle harvesting. Palaeodietary analysis of LBA humans at Thessaloniki Toumba indicates that C3 crops represent the only plausible staples. Millet was a minor food but may have played a particular role in the subadult diet. Meatprobably featured in suprahousehold food sharing and hospitality, associated with Mycenaean-style tableware in the LBA