The transition from foraging to farming (7000–500 cal BC) in the SE Baltic: A re-evaluation of chronological and palaeodietary evidence from human remains

Abstract

Our knowledge of the timing and completeness of the transition from foraging, fishing and hunting to food production in boreal northeastern Europe is far from clear. Here, we present new bone collagen AMS 14 C dates, and 13 C and 15 N isotope values for 20 humans and 17 animals from a 7,500-year period dating from the Late Mesolithic to the Bronze Age in Lithuania. AMS 14 C dates revealed large discrepancies in comparison to previously obtained radiocarbon dates, thus highlighting the need to re-date all prehistoric human remains where chronology was based on 14 C dating of bone collagen. Stable isotope data indicate that inland Mesolithic-Subneolithic huntergatherers (7000-3000 cal BC) relied on a balance of freshwater food and game animals with regard to protein intake. The coastal Subneolithic groups (ca. 3000 cal BC) relied heavily on lagoon fishing, while seals and forest game were of lesser importance. Animal husbandry, most likely of sheep or goats, was a main source of protein for Neolithic Corded Ware Culture people (2900-2400 cal BC), although a significant contribution of freshwater food is also evident. Significant intra-individual variation in stable isotope values may demonstrate that a highly flexible subsistence strategy was adopted by the CWC people. Unusually high 13 C values indicate that millet had been already introduced into the farming economy of the Late Bronze Age around 1000 cal BC.

The genetic prehistory of the Baltic Sea region

“… 28 , radiocarbon dates for Spiginas2, Donkalnis6, Kretuonas5, Gyvakarai, and Turlojiškė1 were first reported in ref. 30 *Y-haplogroups are based on the most downstream defining mutation covered and might not reflect the true haplogroup, see Supplementary Note 3 **Data merged with published data from this individual [ 22 ]…”

“… 28 , radiocarbon dates for Spiginas2, Donkalnis6, Kretuonas5, Gyvakarai, and Turlojiškė1 were first reported in ref. 30 …”

“…Younger individuals share more alleles with Anatolian and European farmers (Supplementary Table 7 ) as also observed in contemporaneous Central European CWC individuals 2 . The individual Spiginas2 30 , dated to a very late period of the LN (2130–1750 calBCE), stands out in that it shares an excess of alleles with European forager groups when compared to the Yamnaya populations, with the top hits being Switzerland_HG, WHG, Baltic Mesolithic and Baltic EMN Narva (Supplementary Table 7 ).…”

Diet, cuisine and consumption practices of the first farmers in the southeastern Baltic

“…It is perhaps harder to understand the eventual imposition of farming in this region, which is first recorded by the appearance of domesticated animals from ca. 2900/2800–2400 cal BC with the Early Neolithic Globular Amphora (GAC) and Corded Ware (CWC) cultures (Charniauski 1996; Lõugas et al 2007; Piličiauskas et al 2017a, b, c; Rimantienė 2002), and then by crop cultivation in the Middle Bronze Age, ca. 1300 cal BC (Piličiauskas et al 2017c).…”

The eastern shores of the Baltic Sea in the Early Holocene according to natural and cultural relict data

“…Following this pattern of economic and chronological Early Holocene evolution, the Middle Neolithic Šventoji settlements in the Lithuanian coastal area should also be dated to the Late Mesolithic or Early Neolithic because traces of economic activity in them, as distinct from eastern Lithuania, are sparse, or absent altogether (Girininkas & Daugnora, ). Polish (Król, ), Lithuanian (Piličiauskas, ; Piličiauskas et al, ), and Danish (Andersen, ; Zvelebil, ) archaeologists do not take into consideration some specific features of the economic activity of the Baltic coastal population. The most important of them is the cost‐effectiveness of the hunter‐gatherer (southwest and southeast Baltic) economy in the Early and Middle Neolithic, due to the ecological effect of the coastal zone.…”