Dietary Practices at the Onset of the Neolithic in the Western Mediterranean Revealed Using a Combined Biomarker and Isotopic Approach

Spiteri, Cynthianne Debono; Muntoni, Italo M.; Craig, Oliver E.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-52939-4_10

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Finally, the actual use of pottery is a key parameter influencing the amount of lipids absorbed and preserved in archaeological potsherds. The absence of lipids in numerous samples from Pendimoun may not be due to their degradation but to the specific use of pottery in this early phase of the Neolithic in the western Mediterranean, to transform cereals or to store water, for example, as suggested by other researchers (Spiteri et al 2017).…”

Section: Relationship Between Porosity and Preservation Of Lipidsmentioning

confidence: 72%

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Influence of porosity on lipid preservation in the wall of archaeological pottery

et al. 2019

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Porosity of archaeological pottery is a key parameter used to assess its ability to trap lipids during the use of the pot and to preserve them over time. Mercury intrusion porosimetry and gas chromatography were used to study the distribution of porosity and the preservation of lipids in different chrono‐cultural contexts. The data obtained show that the porosity pattern, related to the raw materials and the savoir‐faire of the potters, influences the amount of lipids accumulated in the pottery. A significant overall porosity together with a high level of small pores is generally favourable for the preservation of lipids, but variations related to the environmental context are observed.

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Section: Relationship Between Porosity and Preservation Of Lipidsmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…The absence of lipids in numerous samples from Pendimoun may not be due to their degradation but to the specific use of pottery in this early phase of the Neolithic in the western Mediterranean, to transform cereals or to store water, for example, as suggested by other researchers (Spiteri et al . ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Influence of porosity on lipid preservation in the wall of archaeological pottery

et al. 2019

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“…Some authors suggest that surface burnishing may reduce the absorption of organic matter when the vessel is used (e.g. Correa-Ascencio & Evershed, 2013;Debono Spiteri, 2012). Indeed, during this type of treatment, the compaction of the clay material causes a migration of the finest particles towards the surface and sinks the largest inclusions (Echallier, 1984).…”

Section: Porosity Of the Pastementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Conversely, Mediterranean-like climates, characterised by a hot and dry climate that alternates with periods of heavy rainfall, is thought to be favourable to the degradation of organic matter, since they favour both hydrolysis and oxidation mechanisms (Evershed, 2008b), but the preservation has proved to be very good at a number of sites (e.g. Drieu et al, 2018;Spiteri et al, 2017).…”

Section: Influence Of Environmental Context On the Degradation Of Org...mentioning

confidence: 99%

A pottery biography: considering the entire lifecycle of a pot in organic residue analysis

Drieu¹

2020

archeosciences

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Distribution électronique Cairn.info pour Presses universitaires de Rennes. © Presses universitaires de Rennes. Tous droits réservés pour tous pays.La reproduction ou représentation de cet article, notamment par photocopie, n'est autorisée que dans les limites des conditions générales d'utilisation du site ou, le cas échéant, des conditions générales de la licence souscrite par votre établissement. Toute autre reproduction ou représentation, en tout ou partie, sous quelque forme et de quelque manière que ce soit, est interdite sauf accord préalable et écrit de l'éditeur, en dehors des cas prévus par la législation en vigueur en France. Il est précisé que son stockage dans une base de données est également interdit.

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“…The arrival of farming coupled with improved climate conditions is believed to have brought a rapid and substantial increase in population, with communities permanently residing in houses and villages, supported by a mixed economy of hunting, farming and small-scale herding (Barker, 1975, pp. 144-147;Robb & van Hove, 2003;Robb, 2007, p. 26;Branch et al, 2014;Spiteri et al 2017;Pilaar Birch & Vander Linden, 2018;Gaastra & Vander Linden, 2018). During the Middle and Late Neolithic, farming strategies became more intensive with greater evidence for the production and consumption of cereals and legumes, of mixed livestock (but a prevalence of cattle), and less evidence than before for hunted red deer and wild boar (Corridi & Moroni, 1993;Fugazzola Delpino et al, 1993;Villari, 1995;Ferrari et al, 2001;Anzidei et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-Term Demographic Trends in Prehistoric Italy: Climate Impacts and Regionalised Socio-Ecological Trajectories

et al. 2021

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The Italian peninsula offers an excellent case study within which to investigate long-term regional demographic trends and their response to climate fluctuations, especially given its diverse landscapes, latitudinal range and varied elevations. In the past two decades, summed probability distributions of calibrated radiocarbon dates have become an important method for inferring population dynamics in prehistory. Recent advances in this approach also allow for statistical assessment of spatio-temporal patterning in demographic trends. In this paper we reconstruct population change for the whole Italian peninsula from the Late Mesolithic to the Early Iron Age (10,000–2800 cal yr BP). How did population patterns vary across time and space? Were fluctuations in human population related to climate change? In order to answer these questions, we have collated a large list of published radiocarbon dates (n = 4010) and use this list firstly to infer the demographic trends for the Italian peninsula as a whole, before addressing each of five sub-regions in turn (northern, central, and southern Italy, Sicily, Sardinia). We also compare population fluctuations with local paleoclimate proxies (cave, lake, marine records). At a pan-regional scale, the results show a general rapid and substantial increase in population in the Early Neolithic with the introduction of farming at around 8000 cal yr BP and further dramatic increases during the Bronze and Iron Age (~ 3800–2800 cal yr BP). However, different regional demographic trajectories exist across different regions of Italy, suggesting a variety of localised human responses to climate shifts. Population and climate appear to have been more closely correlated during the early–mid Holocene (Mesolithic–Neolithic), while later in the Holocene (Bronze–Iron Ages) they decouple. Overall, across the Holocene the population dynamics varied by region and depended on the long-term socio-ecological dynamics prevailing in a given area. Finally, we include a brief response to the paper ‘Radiocarbon dated trends and central Mediterranean prehistory’ by Parkinson et al. (J Word Prehist 34(3), 2021)—synchronously published by Journal of World Prehistory but wholly independently developed—indicating how our conclusions accord with or differ from one another.

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Dietary Practices at the Onset of the Neolithic in the Western Mediterranean Revealed Using a Combined Biomarker and Isotopic Approach

Cited by 6 publications

References 65 publications

Influence of porosity on lipid preservation in the wall of archaeological pottery

Influence of porosity on lipid preservation in the wall of archaeological pottery

A pottery biography: considering the entire lifecycle of a pot in organic residue analysis

Long-Term Demographic Trends in Prehistoric Italy: Climate Impacts and Regionalised Socio-Ecological Trajectories

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