This paper explores dietary practices in Bronze Age northern Italy through the isotopic investigation of human and animal collagen from the Early Bronze Age (EBA) necropolis of Arano di Cellore (Illasi, Verona). An earlier study had recently dated to the Bronze Age the introduction of C4 crops in the Po Plain in a way that makes this region of Europe a key area to explore Bronze Age economic strategies. Our study shows that diet at Arano was based on the consumption of C3 cereal-type plants, with isotope values clustered in a narrow range: this distribution would indicate a rather homogeneous diet with only slight differences in accordance to sex of the individuals. The evidence from Arano seems to suggest that during the EBA, food consumption was strongly rooted in earlier traditions likely going back to the Neolithic, either in terms of type of crops consumed or relative contribution of plants and animal proteins to the diet. Thanks to the evidence from Arano, we are now able to firmly place the shift in crop use in the region at a transition phase between the late phases of the EBA and the beginning of the MBA. When comparing Arano's results with those from EBA Mediterranean sites similar isotopic patterns are identified. A general uniformity of dietary practices for the south of Europe could be advocated, so that the consumption of C4 plants identified in the Po Plain during the MBA might have been limited to very specific sites

ABSTRACT. Seventeen of the 73 individuals buried in the Early Bronze Age (EBA) cemetery at Arano di Cellore di Illasi, near Verona, northern Italy, were radiocarbon dated by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). Bayesian modeling of the calibrated dates suggests that the cemetery was probably used over several generations mainly within the first 2 centuries of the 2nd millennium cal BC. Burial activity was therefore mainly restricted to within the EBA I B/EBA I C of the north Italian Bronze Age chronology. An isolated burial, found -9 0 m northwest of the cemetery, may date to the same period.

The identification of the mammalian species based on faecal sediments in modern and ancient environments is the aim of the research of archaeologists, forensic scientists and ecologists. Here, we set up and validated an optimized gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) method, characterized by a time-saving sample preparation protocol, for the simultaneous analysis of faecal biomarkers (6 sterols/stanols and 5 bile acids) in 14 soil samples from the archaeological site of “Le Colombare di Negrar” in northern Italy. Although the archaeological sediment samples examined are numerically exiguous, a comparative reading of our faecal biomarkers findings with new studies on faunal materials collected in the same stratigraphic detail during recent excavation campaigns will allow to better clarify the economic interest of the animal species farmed in the Colombare site (such as bovines, goats, sheep and pigs) and to shed light on the management of breeding. Together with archaeozoological and archaeobotanical analyses, the investigation of faecal biomarkers can increase our knowledge of how ancient local communities exploited natural resources and may allow us to deduce what their impact on the landscape was.

Palynological and archaeobotanical analyses have been carried out as part of the interdisciplinary project of Colombare di Negrar, a prehistoric site in the Lessini Mountains (northern Italy). The palaeoenvironmental and economic reconstruction from the Late Neolithic to the beginning of the Early Bronze Age was based on 16 pollen samples and three samples of macroremains taken from two contiguous trenches. The landscape reconstruction shows the presence of natural clearings in the wood. Forest cover was characterised by oak wood, with Ulmus and Tilia. The intermediate morphology of size and exine of Tilia cordata/platyphyllos pollen may be regarded as the first palynological evidence of lime hybrids in palaeorecords. Hygrophilous trees and Vitis vinifera testify to the presence of riparian forests and moist soils. Among trees supplying fruits, in addition to the grapevine, hazelnut (Corylus avellana) and walnut (Juglans regia) were present. A mixed economy based on animal breeding and cultivation of cereals (Hordeum vulgare, Triticum monococcum, T. dicoccum, T. timopheevii) emerged from the data. The combined analysis of pollen and plant macroremains suggests that different activities were carried out simultaneously in Colombare and a relationship between natural resources and the socio-economic and cultural evolution of the territory.

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