This paper presents new results of stable isotope analysis made on human and animal bones from Mesolithic-Neolithic sites (9500-5200 cal BC) in the Central Balkans. It reconstructs dietary practices in the Mesolithic and documents the development of new subsistence strategies and regional differences during the process of Neolithisation. We achieved these insights into dietary changes by analysing bone collagen δ 13 C (n = 75), δ 15 N (n = 75) and δ 34 S (n = 96) and comparing stable isotope data of Mesolithic-Neolithic communities from the Danube Gorges with the data of the first farmers who lived outside of the Gorges in the Central Balkans. The Bayesian model was employed to evaluate the relative importance of different animal proteins in human diet. Results bring a new overview and highlight important chronological and regional differences. They suggest that Late Mesolithic humans included more anadromous and potamodromous fish in their diet, which is consistent with archaeozoological evidence. On the other hand, differing from archaeozoological data, the model also points to a greater reliance on terrestrial carnivores (dogs) in the Late Mesolithic diet, a pattern that can be also explained by other dietary and environmental factors. In the Transitional and Neolithic period in the Gorges, some individuals have consumed fewer aquatic resources and favoured more terrestrial products. However, one site in the Gorges represents an exception-Ajmana, where we have the earliest farmers in this region since their subsistence economy was mainly oriented toward terrestrial products. Furthermore, results shows that Neolithic individuals inhumated at sites outside of the Danube Gorges in the Balkans had dietary patterns that vary in both terrestrial and freshwater resources, indicating that early farming communities had a diversified diet linked to a local natural environment. Comparative data finally indicates regional differentiations associated with locally available resources but also related to the traditions of prehistoric communities and to specific economic innovations.
While early Neolithic populations in Europe were largely descended from early Aegean farmers, there is also evidence of episodic gene flow from local Mesolithic hunter-gatherers into early Neolithic communities. Exactly how and where this occurred is still unknown. Here we report direct evidence for admixture between the two groups at the Danube Gorges in Serbia. Analysis of palaeogenomes recovered from skeletons revealed that second-generation mixed individuals were buried amidst individuals whose ancestry was either exclusively Aegean Neolithic or exclusively local Mesolithic. The mixed ancestry is also reflected in a corresponding mosaic of grave goods. With its deep sequence of occupation and its unique dwellings that suggest at least semi-sedentary occupation since the late Mesolithic, the area of the Danube Gorges has been at the center of the debate about the contribution of Mesolithic societies to the Neolithisation of Europe. As suggested by our data, which were processed exclusively with uncertainty-aware bioinformatic tools, it may have been precisely in such contexts that close interactions between these societies were established, and Mesolithic ancestry and cultural elements were assimilated.
The diffusion of the farming way-of-life into environments occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in Europe has been associated with two major demographic events: the migrations of farmers originating from the Near-East and an unprecedented population increase, the "Neolithic Demographic Transition" (NDT). The Mesolithic-Neolithic transformations in the Danube Gorges provide a context of particular importance for tackling issues of Neolithization, due to its location, temporal depth, and highly contextualized osteo-anthropological record. This chapter compares complementary palaeodemographic proxies and bioarchaeological markers in order to assess the demographic response of local foragers to the Neolithic expansion. Interpreted together, these lines of evidence confirm the predictions of the NDT, and shed light on the relationships between subsistence intensification, sedentism and population growth, between migrations, cultural transmission and adaptations, and between dietary strategies, fertility and morbidity -i.e. on some mechanisms, benefits and costs of the farming transition -in the Central Balkans.
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