Stable isotope analysis of human and faunal remains: a palaeodietary investigation into chalcolithic and bronze age Cyprus

Abstract

Food supply and subsistence strategies are usually considered the starting point for the reconstruction of socio-economical patterns within the life of prehistoric communities. From the archaeological point of view, to investigate the food system of past human societies usually means to analyse and interpret the physical remains left behind during the principal phases of food provision: procurement, storage, preparation, consumption and disposal. However, given the perishable nature of many food-related materials, the archaeological record should not be assessed in isolation but within an inter-disciplinary framework where any other available form of evidence is integrated. Towards this purpose, the reconstruction of dietary patterns by means of stable isotope analysis of fossil materials represents a well-established technique for supplementing the archaeological data and gathering quantitative and qualitative information both on food resources and their patterns of use, which is the stage of procurement, and on individual consumer behaviour, that is the phase of consumption. In particular, the clearest advantage of the method is that it reflects the foods actually eaten by an individual, or a group of individuals, including those organic remains with low recovery rates, such as plant foods and fish residues. With reference to prehistoric Cyprus, dietary patterns have been usually inferred from faunal and botanical data and within the context of broader researches focused on subsistence strategies. Applications of stable isotope analysis for palaeodietary reconstruction are practically absent in the current literature. Within these premises, this research project focuses on the reconstruction of the palaeodiet of the population of Cyprus during the period from the Chalcolithic to the beginning of Late Bronze Age (c. 3900-1450 BC) by means of stable isotope analysis of faunal and human remains. The investigated period is particularly significant in terms of cultural development of the Cypriot society, as it encompasses a series of changes in social structure, technology and economy that will gradually transform the village-based, isolated Chalcolithic communities of the island into cooperative, rural and proto-industrial centres during the subsequent Early and Middle Bronze Age. In this study, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen stable isotope ratios have been measured on several faunal and human samples (bone and teeth) collected from relevant Chalcolithic and Bronze Age sites of Cyprus. The stable isotope results have been evaluated in relation to the archaeological, anthropological and environmental records in order to reconstruct the dietary patterns of the investigated communities. Beyond the mere reconstruction of a diet, the new isotopic dataset has been discussed in relation to other food-related topics, following three different approaches: 1) a socio-cultural approach intended to examine social implications related to diet, for example differences in food acquisition and consumption, or possible gender-related differences in the diet; 2) a geographical approach, so as to study regional differences in the diet, but also the mutual relationship between the environment and the dietary choices of the communities; 3) a diachronic approach, designed to examine the differences in the dietary behaviours of the Chaclolithic and Bronze Age individuals.