Dietary continuity vs. discontinuity in Bronze Age Italy. The isotopic evidence from Arano di Cellore (Illasi, Verona, Italy)

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.03.047
• Publication Date: 2016-04-14T01:30:24Z
• Authors: Alessandra Varalli; Jacopo Moggi-Cecchi; Irene Dori; Silvia Boccone; Silvia Bortoluzzi; Paola Salzani; Mary Anne Tafuri
• Keywords: 2. Zero hunger; Bronze Age; Northern Italy; Oral pathologies; Paleodiet; Stable isotopes; Archeology (arts and humanities); Archeology; History; [SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory; [SHS.ANTHRO-BIO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Biological anthropology; 0601 history and archaeology; 06 humanities and the arts; bronze age; Northern Italy; oral pathologies; paleodiet; stable isotopes; [SDV.AEN]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Food and Nutrition

Abstract This paper explores dietary practices in Bronze Age northern Italy through the isotopic investigation of human and animal collagen from the Early Bronze Age (EBA) necropolis of Arano di Cellore (Illasi, Verona). An earlier study had recently dated to the Bronze Age the introduction of C 4 crops in the Po Plain in a way that makes this region of Europe a key area to explore Bronze Age economic strategies. Our study shows that diet at Arano was based on the consumption of C 3 cereal-type plants, with isotope values clustered in a narrow range: this distribution would indicate a rather homogeneous diet with only slight differences in accordance to sex of the individuals. The evidence from Arano seems to suggest that during the EBA, food consumption was strongly rooted in earlier traditions likely going back to the Neolithic, either in terms of type of crops consumed or relative contribution of plants and animal proteins to the diet. Thanks to the evidence from Arano, we are now able to firmly place the shift in crop use in the region at a transition phase between the late phases of the EBA and the beginning of the MBA. When comparing Arano's results with those from EBA Mediterranean sites similar isotopic patterns are identified. A general uniformity of dietary practices for the south of Europe could be advocated, so that the consumption of C 4 plants identified in the Po Plain during the MBA might have been limited to very specific sites.