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

Abstract

With the arrival of the Early Neolithic Globular Amphora and Corded Ware cultures into the southeastern Baltic, ca. 2900/2800–2400 cal BC, a new type of economy was introduced, animal husbandry. However, the degree to which this transformed the subsistence economy is unknown. Here, we conducted organic residue analyses of 64 ceramic vessels to identify their contents. The vessels were sampled from 10 Lithuanian archaeological sites dating across the Subneolithic-Neolithic transition to the Early Bronze Age (ca. 2900/2800–1300 cal BC). Our results demonstrate that regardless of location or vessel type, many ceramics were used to process aquatic resources. Against our expectations, this association continued even after marked economic change concurrent with the migration of pastoralists from central and southeastern Europe, as evidenced by recent ancient DNA analysis of human remains. Moreover, we observed dairy fats in pottery from all cultures of the Early Neolithic (i.e. Rzucewo, Globular Amphora and Corded Ware) but unlike other regions of Europe, it seems that these were incorporated into indigenous culinary practices. Furthermore, some vessels were used to process plant foods, and others may have been used for the production and/or storage of birch bark tar. However, evidence for domesticated plant processing, for example millet, was absent. We show that organic residue analysis of pottery provides a different picture of past consumption patterns compared to the stable isotope analysis of human remains from isolated burials where a clear dietary shift is evident.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s12520-019-00804-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Organic residue analysis shows sub-regional patterns in the use of pottery by Northern European hunter–gatherers

“…Further information relating to their biological source was gained by measuring their carbon isotope values (Gas Chromatography-Combustion-Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry, GC-C-IRMS). This approach has been widely applied to European Neolithic pottery [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29], and is increasingly being applied to hunter-gatherer pottery throughout the circum-Baltic region [22,[30][31][32]. Here, we report the outcome of organic residue analysis undertaken on 416 new royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos R. Soc.…”

A multi-isotope analysis of Neolithic human groups in the Yonne valley, Northern France: insights into dietary patterns and social structure

“…Whereas during the Neolithic, farming seems to have replaced marine fishing in some Atlantic European coastal sites (e.g. Richards et al 2003), there is varied evidence available elsewhere, even if it is not highlighted by isotopic data (Robson et al 2019). In the Paris Basin, 4 As the different food sources are not known, the authors chose to not apply any mixing model to quantify proportions based on hypothetic food items.…”

Interpreting ancient food practices: stable isotope and molecular analyses of visible and absorbed residues from a year-long cooking experiment

“…Several studies have shown a correspondence between the bulk δ 13 C values of carbonized residues and absorbed lipids, where the combination of analyses have provided complementary data to support conclusions regarding vessel use [35][36][37][38][39][40] . For example, both bulk δ 13 C values and individual fatty acid δ 13 C values can discriminate between habitats, such as terrestrial versus aquatic species (and further refinement between freshwater, marine, and anadromous species), since marine species are 13 C enriched [35][36][37][38][39]41 .…”