Early medieval Italian Alps: reconstructing diet and mobility in the valleys

Abstract

In Early Middle Ages (sixth-eleventh centuries AD), South Tyrol (Italian Alps) played a key role for geographical and military reasons. Historical sources document that allochthonous groups (germani) entered the territory, and the material culture shows mutual cultural exchanges between autochthonous and germani. Besides the nature of the migration, the demographic and socio-cultural impacts on the local population are still unknown. Stable isotope analyses were performed to provide insights into dietary patterns, subsistence strategies, changes in socio-economic structures, and mobility, according to spatial (e.g. valleys, altitudes) and chronological (centuries) parameters. Bone collagen of 32 faunal and 91 human bone samples from nine sites, located at different altitudes, was extracted for stable carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur isotope analyses. In total, 94% (30/32) of the faunal remains were of good quality, while the humans displayed 93% (85/91) of good quality samples for δ 13 C and δ 15 N and 44% (40/91) for δ 34 S stable isotopes. The isotopic results of the animals reflected a terrestrial-based diet. Statistical differences were observed within and among the humans of the different valleys. The δ 13 C values of individuals sampled from higher altitudes indicated a mainly C 3 plant-based diet compared to areas at lower altitudes, where more positive δ 13 C values showed an intake of C 4 plants. The δ 15 N values suggested a terrestrial-based diet with a greater consumption of animal proteins at higher altitudes. The data revealed higher variability in δ 34 S values in the Adige valley, with individuals probably migrating and/or changing dietary habits.

Exploring mobility in Italian Neolithic and Copper Age communities

“…Several isotopic markers are used in palaeo-mobility research 27 , 28 . The most applied are oxygen and strontium isotopes from tooth enamel 28 – 35 , while the isotopes of other elements are seldom applied for this topic 32 , 35 – 38 . Mobility research via oxygen isotopes relies on site-specific isotopic signatures to gauge where people might have lived during the period of skeletal mineralization.…”

“…Oxygen isotopes can be extracted from enamel, dentine, or bone samples. Human tooth enamel forms during childhood and adolescence 38 , 39 and remains unaltered through adulthood. Tooth dentine grows incrementally during tooth formation with negligible remodeling later in life 40 , even though secondary and tertiary dentine keeps forming after tooth completion, making this tissue not completely isotopically inert.…”

Metagenomic analysis of ancient dental calculus reveals unexplored diversity of oral archaeal Methanobrevibacter

“…1 , Additional file 2 : Table S1), were subjected to in-depth metagenomic analysis to characterise the oral microbiome and further describe the diversity of the genus Methanobrevibacter . Anthropological analysis (sex and age at death estimations) and radiocarbon dating of the human remains from the Early Middle Age were previously published in [ 21 ], and the prehistoric individuals were analysed according to the same methods. Periodontitis was evaluated to be present or absent, where it was present if the distance between the cemento-enamel junction (CEJ) and the margin of the alveolus was more than 3 mm (modified from [ 22 ]) (Additional file 2 : Table S1).…”

Dining in Tuva: Social correlates of diet and mobility in Southern Siberia during the 2nd–4th centuries CE

“…The close correlation between δ 34 S in bone collagen and local geology, and the small fractionation along the food webs suggest the suitability of sulfur isotope ratios when estimating regional mobility among past populations. The use of δ 34 S in mobility research is relatively unexplored (compared with the use of oxygen and strontium), but promising, as suggested by the few studies which applied this approach on archeological materials (Cheung et al, 2017; Moghaddam et al, 2014; Paladin et al, 2020; Vika, 2009).…”