C4 plants (e.g. maize, millet), part of our current diet, are only endemic of reduced areas in South-Europe due to their need of warm climates. Since the first vestiges of agriculture in Europe remains of C4 plants were recorded but their overall proportion in the human diet remains unknown. Therefore, isotopic (δ13C and δ15N) composition of bone collagen from the skeletal remains (human and animals) of a Celtic population, Cenomani Gauls, from Verona (3rd to 1st century BC) in the NE Italy provide a new perspective on this matter. The δ13C collagen values of 90 human skeletal individuals range between −20.2‰ and −9.7‰ (V-PDB) with a mean value of −15.3‰. As present day C4 plants have δ13C values around −11‰, which is equivalent to −9.5‰ for samples of preindustrial age, the less negative δ13C values in these individuals indicate a diet dominated by C4 plants. This palaeodietary study indicates that some European populations predominantly consumed cultivated C4 plants 2100 year B.P. This is supported by the paleobotanical records and ancient Roman sources (e.g. Pliny the Elder), which indicate that millet was a staple food in South-Europe.

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A medieval osteological sample (n = 20) from the isolated rural community of San Baudelio de Berlanga (Soria, N-Spain) was studied using paleopathological and stable isotope analyses. The necropolis was initially dated by archeologists between the XI and XII centuries AD and contains 57 individuals. The main objective of this study was to investigate the diet and the chronology of these individuals to improve the understanding not only of the diet but also of the population dynamics in an isolated rural site. The isotopic composition of their rib bone collagen was determined. δ 15 N values ranged between 9.3‰ and 11.5‰, with a mean of 10.3 + 0.5‰ (AIR), while δ 13 C values ranged between −17.6‰ and −19.0‰ with a mean of −18.2 + 0.4‰ (V-PDB). Radiocarbon results dated the individuals to between the XI and mid-XIII century. The stable isotopic results suggest a mixed terrestrial diet dominated by C 3 cereals but including also animal products (e.g. meat and dairy products). Isotopic differences between sexes may be related more closely to social (patrilineal pattern of pairing) and biodemographical (lower female life expectancy) factors than dietary gender differences.

Summary A large sample of human bones from a series of archaeological sites in the south‐eastern Iberian Peninsula was selected for δ13C and δ15N stable isotope analysis. Except for some contrast samples, the remains date from the first half of the second millennium cal BC and are ascribed to the Argar Culture, which developed during the Bronze Age in south‐eastern Iberia. Most authors have considered that this region reached a high degree of social hierarchical organization at this time, as demonstrated by the funerary record, both with regard to the grave goods and to the evidence of physical effort and diseases on the human remains. Results of the isotope analysis revealed the existence of differences among the settlements studied, as well as differences over time within every settlement and among the various individuals tested. Some variances can be assigned to social classes/status and others are linked to chronological factors. In particular, changes in δ13C can be explained by the increasing aridity of the first half of the second millennium cal BC, although other causes can be put forward too.

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