Food management of early introduced caprine and bovine herds in the early Neolithic site of La Draga (Banyoles): An isotopic approach

Abstract

The arrival of early farmers and their livestock in the western Mediterranean during the early Neolithic marked a new way of life for the north‐east Iberian Peninsula. Given the permanence of the introduced economic strategies, which are still practiced today, and their apparently momentous outcome, this process has generally been explained as a success. The introduction of livestock must have played a fundamental role, but we know little about how these newly arrived domestic animals were managed. In this sense, the management of food habits of domestic animals could be a key factor to understand the success of different herding systems during the introduction and adaptation of domesticates in the Iberian Peninsula. Sequential analyses of δ13C and δ18O values in tooth enamel crowns are here used to provide detailed information about dietary inputs of early caprine and bovine herds introduced into the Iberian Peninsula. Our study was carried out at La Draga (5314–5209 cal BC), a site on the eastern side of Lake Banyoles (Girona, NE Iberian Peninsula). Data show that caprine and bovine herds were fed with variable foddering strategies. Sheep reflect feeding in the swamps or on forest resources with reduced seasonal dietary changes. Goat and cattle herds display food habits that could involve foddering on stored agricultural by‐products during specific season times, probably linked to reproductive and productive strategies. This information helps to reconstruct how these early Neolithic communities found the way to success in the new territories of the western Mediterranean.

Early sheep herd management in the inland of the Iberian Peninsula: results of the incremental isotopic analyses of dental remains from El Mirador cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain)

“…These climatic characteristics and the vegetal mosaic that surrounded the cave of El Mirador could have provided resources for feeding the flock throughout the year without the sheep having to move large distances in search of pastures. This use of the nearest territory for feeding has also been documented in the Early Neolithic sheep at La Draga (northeastern Iberian Peninsula), also using combined δ 13 C and δ 18 O (Navarrete et al 2019).…”

Sheep husbandry in the early Neolithic of the Pyrenees: New data on feeding and reproduction in the cave of Chaves

“…On the other hand, this may also reflect specific management of sheep diet by the farmers. At La Draga (Navarrete et al, 2019) a similarly low amplitude in the sheep diet δ 13 C values has been documented (0.9-2.6‰), which was interpreted as reflecting feeding in wetlands where plants do not undergo seasonal water stress. However, wetlands were not part of Chaves's surrounding landscape.…”

“…Today, plants from these families are documented in arid areas such as those in the lowlands and middle mountain of the Ebro basin (between 200 and 800 m, although they can reach up to 1500) but do not occur in the mountain due to lower temperatures at higher elevations. Potential seasonal variations in the relative contribution of these different plant resources in sheep diet, as a tracer of mobility between the lowlands and the highlands, may be reconstructed through sequential analysis in enamel (Balasse et al, 2002;Navarrete et al, 2019;Tornero et al, 2020). Moreover, δ 13 C values also allow to characterize the feeding environment in which the animals are fed, distinguishing between plants grown in open and closed environments: the later are characterized by significantly lower stable carbon isotope ratios due to the canopy effect (Bonafini et al, 2013;Drucker et al, 2008;Drucker and Bocherens, 2009;van der Merwe and Medina, 1991).…”

“…Studies involving stable isotope analysis, increasingly commonly used to investigate husbandry practices, have been scarce and focused in the northeast of the Iberia. These studies have shown the existence of different husbandry management regimes for pigs in different sites of the Early Neolithic (Navarrete et al, 2017) and different food regimes for cattle, goats and sheep at the La Draga site (Navarrete et al, 2019). It seems that during the Early Neolithic there were various livestock management practices related to the herding of different species, the exploitation of different livestock products and adaptation to the different Iberian environments.…”

Mid-Holocene Palaeoenvironment, Plant Resources and Human Interaction in Northeast Iberia: An Archaeobotanical Approach

“…Cultivated plants also yielded non-edible by-products that were either used to feed domestic animals, as at La Draga [96], or for other purposes such as roofing, basketry or temper material. So far, the multidisciplinary analyses performed have detected the use of grasses for basketry, but it is currently not possible to ascertain if cereal straw was used for this purpose.…”