Dietary reconstruction of the Bronze Age necropolis of Cova des Pas (Minorca Island) : evidence from δ13C and δ15N analyses
Sotiriadou, Triantafyllia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia)
Tornero Dacasa, Carlos Alberto (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Prehistòria)
Malgosa Morera, Assumpció (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia)
Sureda, Pau (Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio)
Jordana, Xavier (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia)

Data:	2023
Resum:	Current paleodietary studies about the Naviform and Talayotic groups that took place in Minorca (Balearic Islands) during the Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age (ca. 1600-850/800 BC) have suggested a mixed and variable diet, largely depending on terrestrial sources of vegetables and meat. This study explores the nutritional pattern of the individuals buried in the Cova des Pas site (Minorca Island, Spain), a cave used as a collective sepulcher and the most exceptional and major human assemblage found in the Balearic Islands during this period. Carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotopic signatures were measured on extracted bone collagen from 49 individuals. Further, faunal remains from the Son Mercer de Baix site, the closest contemporaneous village to the collective sepulcher, were also analyzed to provide a baseline corpus of data to interpret human isotopic data. The results indicate a human diet based mainly on C3 plants with an important consumption of animal protein. The δ15N values of infants up to 4 years were high, indicating the enriched isotopic signature of breast milk, and weaning is assumed to occur around this age. Differences between sexes and the age subcategories were not statistically significant, assuming that the different groups of society had the same access to food. The data obtained in this isotopic study provides insight into the palaeodietary pattern of the human groups dated to the Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age ages in the island of Minorca, contributing to the present debate on the emergence and development of complex societies on the Balearic archipelago.
Ajuts:	Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CEX2019-000945-M Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación RYC2020-029404-I Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/SGR-1630 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación IJC2020-042714-I
Nota:	Altres ajuts: Xunta de Galicia-GAIN IN606C-2021/002
Nota:	Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Matèria:	Balearic Islands ; Bronze Age ; Human diet ; Social complexity ; Stable isotopes
Publicat a:	Archaeological and anthropological sciences, Vol. 15 (December 2023) , art. 11, ISSN 1866-9565

DOI: 10.1007/s12520-022-01707-y

16 p, 2.2 MB

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