A Neolithic without dairy? Chemical evidence from the content of ceramics from the Pendimoun rock-shelter (Castellar, France, 5750–5150 BCE)

Abstract

The early phases of Neolithic expansion in the Central and Western Mediterranean are relatively poorly understood with regards to the diversity in the subsistence economy and the degree of interaction with indigenous hunter-gatherers. Recent analysis of pottery manufacturing techniques also points to a surprisingly diverse range of practices across the region. Here, we explore the use of pottery during the early phases of the Neolithic in the North-western Mediterranean, through analysis of organic residues absorbed in the pots of the Pendimoun rock-shelter (Impresso-Cardial complex) in South-eastern France. Using molecular and single-compounds stable carbon isotopes analyses, our study reveals that the majority of pots were used for processing wild or domesticated ruminant carcase fats, although lipids derived from cereals and wild non-ruminant fats, such as hares, cannot be excluded. In addition, a few of the earlier Impressa vessels showed the presence of beeswax and porcine fats. Correlations between the contents of the vessels and their volume were found, suggesting that vessels were manufactured for specific uses. Only one vessel from the Cardial phase showed evidence of dairy fats strengthening the notion that milk was not heavily or systematically exploited by the earliest Neolithic populations of the Mediterranean. Overall, however, our study calls for more detailed regional investigations to fully understand the transition to farming according to the local landscape and environmental context.

New insights into early medieval Islamic cuisine: Organic residue analysis of pottery from rural and urban Sicily

“…Furthermore, the depleted δ 13 C 16:0 values (~-30 ‰) within the range of non-ruminant fats from all sites are difficult to interpret. These values could represent the processing of other non-ruminant animal fats such as domestic fowl [ 49 ] or hare [ 50 ] which are represented in the faunal assemblages of these sites [ 22 , 23 , 43 ], but are present in very low proportions (>5% of the total NISP at all sites) ( S4 Text ). The contribution of C3 plant products such as vegetable oils and cereals etc., can impact δ 13 C values falling in the range of non-ruminant products.…”

Microcomputed tomography for discriminating between different forming techniques in ancient pottery: New segmentation method and pore distribution recognition

“…These control samples were produced using clayey earths mineralogically and texturally analogous to that used to produce the archaeological ceramics here analysed, as defined on the basis of a petrographic approach. The six archaeological fragments are issued from the Castellar Pendimoun rock shelter (Impresso‐cardial Neolithic; Early sixth millennium BCE, Binder et al 1993, Binder et al 2020; Drieu et al 2021; Gomart et al 2017) and from Agay La Cabre settlement (Late Southern Chassey Culture, Early fourth millennium BCE [unpublished]), both located close to the Mediterranean coast in south‐eastern France. The corpus of six archaeological samples is completed by 10 experimental controls, three issued from the coiling technique and seven issued from the SPT, and it is listed in Table 1.…”

Relationships Between Lipid Profiles and Use of Ethnographic Pottery: an Exploratory Study

“…It is only in recent years that work has focused on understanding pottery function by combining extraction yields, structural molecular information, isotopic data and/ or morphological criteria (e.g. Brychova et al, 2021;Drieu et al, 2020aDrieu et al, , 2021Dunne et al, 2020a;Fanti et al, 2018;Heron et al, 2015;Matlova et al, 2017;Šoberl et al, 2014;Stojanovski et al, 2020). Various absorption patterns along the vertical profile have been identified in some of these studies (e.g.…”