Palaeodiet reconstruction inferred by stable isotopes analysis of faunal and human remains at Bronze Age Punta di Zambrone (Calabria, Italy)

Abstract

Recent research has shown that the Bronze Age is a crucial period of dietary changes in Italy. Following this line of enquiry, the paper reports the results of stable isotope analysis (δ 13 C and δ 15 N) of faunal bone collagen as well as of collagen extracted from a few human bones dated to the Recent Bronze Age (13th/12th century BCE) and excavated at the coastal settlement of Punta di Zambrone (PdZ) in Calabria, southern Italy. They constitute the first such data on that period from the Italian south and can be used to determine an isotopic baseline of human food sources providing new insights on the diet of humans inhabiting Calabria.Overall, isotopic data of the faunal samples are fairly uniform, and there is no significant discrepancy to be observed between exclusively herbivorous animals (sheep/ goats, bovine, and red deer) and those having a mixed diet, such as dogs and pigs.All the animals have similar δ 15 N values with only slightly higher values for dog (6.5‰ ± 1.1), and the average of δ 15 N for both domestic and wild animals fits well with published results for herbivorous mammals. Enriched δ 13 C values (range between −19.3‰ and −14.9‰) in most of the faunal samples suggest a terrestrial diet dominated by a mixing of C 3 and C 4 plants (e.g.. millet). The human diet also reflects an impact of C 4 plants in accordance with the archaeobotanic remains. In an interregional comparison, PdZ stands out in this respect among the sites of the Italian south. Human remains from northern Italian sites suggest a much stronger intake of C 4 plants than at PdZ.

New data on agro-pastoral diets in southern Italy from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age

“…For the Bronze Age, we expected substantial differences of isotope values between northern and southern sites because, as is known from the literature, millet was introduced in northern Italy during this period. Contrary to what has been recently proposed by Rumolo et al (2020), it was not regularly consumed in southern Italian communities of the same period (Tafuri et al 2009;Varalli et al 2016a). In northern Italy, Panicum miliaceum cultivation started during the Early Bronze Age, as shown by an increase in the cultivation of this cereal in the Middle/Late Bronze Age at Monte Covolo (Pals and Vorrips 1979) and at Canár (Castiglioni et al 1998;Castelletti et al 2001) and as attested at Terramara di Montale by the archaeological record (Mercuri et al 2006).…”

“…Craig et al 2006;Lai et al 2013). Exceptions to this trend may be represented by the site of Grotta dello Scoglietto in central Italy (Varalli et al 2016a) and Punta di Zambrone in Calabria (Rumolo et al 2020). The latter study has, in our opinion, not fully justified a good collagen quality of the included samples and has not demonstrated that its results may not indicate marine resource consumption by the analysed humans (favouring the interpretation that C 4 plants were consumed at the site).…”

“…The first stable isotopes analyses on Bronze Age Italy were carried out by Tafuri et al (2009) on materials from the north and south of the peninsula and by Lai et al (2013) on specimens from Sardinia. Further isotopic analyses have been undertaken more recently on Early-Middle Bronze Age communities from sites across Italy (Varalli et al 2016a(Varalli et al , 2016bMasotti et al 2017;De Angelis et al 2019;Rumolo et al 2020). These studies have demonstrated that the transition from the Early Bronze Age (2300-1700 BC) to the Middle Bronze Age (1700-1350 BC) represented a moment of change, involving isotopically traceable changes in diet.…”

“…wheat and barley) (Tafuri et al 2009). However, research examining diet in southern Italy during the Bronze Age is scarce since only a handful of sites have been investigated by means of isotope analysis (Tafuri et al 2009;Rumolo 2020).…”

A multi-proxy bioarchaeological approach reveals new trends in Bronze Age diet in Italy

“…The sites of Arano, Olmo di Nogara, Mereto, Sedegliano, Gradisca di Codroipo, Lavello, Toppo Daguzzo, Dossetto di Nogara, Bovolone, Fondo Paviani, Gr. Regina Margherita and Punta di Zambrone followed a similar collagen extraction protocol applied to a fragment of cortical bone 25 , 59 , 60 , 62 , 64 . The samples from Gr.…”