Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis in Italy and Croatia: Bronze Age food practices across the Adriatic

Abstract

This research aims to look at dietary practices of separate populations from across the Adriatic Sea (Italy and Croatia). Paleodietary studies through stable isotope analysis is a means to look at possible food catchments chosen by past communities in order to make educated assumptions of economic and cultural practices. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis was carried out successfully on 22 humans and 28 animal bones from four separate Bronze Age sites. The sites analyzed are Coppa Nevigata (Apulia, Italy), Gusica Gomila, Jukica Gomila, and Brnjica (Dalmatia, Croatia), all dated to the Bronze Age (approximately XVIII-XII century BCE). The main objective is to investigate the contribution of different food sources (terrestrial and marine) and to observe distinctions on animal versus plant proteins in the diet to examine dietary differences within each site. This will allow for a greater understanding of dietary patterns in both Bronze Age Italy and Croatia and to possibly investigate any differences between the two areas. Collectively, the sites have presented carbon and nitrogen isotopic ranges that illustrate a diet dominated with C3 terrestrial plants and relative consumption of herbivore animal proteins. Compared to recent studies of Bronze Age Italy and Croatia, the results correlate well with a diet consisting mostly of cultivated C3 plants. Although, the Bronze Age is an important period for the introduction for a new crop, the C4 plant group of millets, only two individuals from Brnjica show signs of small consumption of C4 plants and/or marine foodstuffs. The individuals from Coppa Nevigata do not indicate any C4 plant consumption which supports recent studies that millet has only been proven to be consumed in North and Central Italy during the Middle to Late Bronze Age. Two individuals from Coppa Nevigata do however indicate small consumption (15-20%) of freshwater foodstuffs. No significant differences in stable isotope values in terms of intrapopulation variations such as sex, age, burial type, or period as far as the samples have provided. This study contributes to our understanding of dietary practices in prehistoric Italy and Croatia and provides new data on Southern and Eastern regions of the Italian Peninsula, all of which are generally under-represented in the Bronze Age. Further it adds interesting information on a clear distinction between Northern and Southern regions of Italy, which suggests that food practices are a good means to investigate on past cultural complexity