NEOMEDIS · NEOlithic MEDiterranean diet through stable ISotope analysis
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2019-01-31 → 2021-06-28
- EU contribution
- €195,455
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
NEOlithic MEDiterranean diet through stable ISotope analysis
During the 6th millennium BC a series of events occurred along the North Western Mediterranean coastlines that transformed society and had far-reaching effects on human demography, health, social organisation and ideology: the arrival of farming. The degree to which these first farmers were culturally influenced and genetically admixed with indigenous hunter-gatherers is still unresolved. This question mirrors a long-standing debate regarding the origins of farming that is now beginning to be addressed through the application of new biomolecular analysis of skeletal remains, such as DNA and stable isotope analysis. Stable isotope analysis of skeletal remains has been used in this project to determine the diet and to address the question regarding the degree to which the early farmers (Early Neolithic) groups relied on food production (i.e. agriculture and pastoralism) as opposed to wild resources (gathered, hunted and fished foods). Essentially, diets of ancient individuals can be estimated by measuring stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) present in bone protein (collagen) extracted from their skeletal tissues and comparing these with measurements from potential foodstuffs. For coastal populations this approach is particularly appealing since marine organisms generally have very distinctive isotopic signatures compared to terrestrial resources, allowing generic discriminations. New analytical tools through compound specific isotope analysis (CSIA) have also been used in this project to significantly increase the resolution of isotopic analysis from bulk collagen to the amino acids (AA) that make up collagen, which can be traced to individual dietary components with much more certainty. To enhance the identification of marine and terrestrial consumers, NEOMEDIS also deployed measurements of sulphur isotopes (34S/32S) in human and fauna bulk collagen samples. These results, in conjunction with those from CSIA, will shed more light on all the questions about the Neolithisation in the Mediterranean basin. The overarching aims of the NEOMEDIS project were to i) produce population level, in depth, uniquely detailed dietary reconstructions of Neolithic humans in the western Mediterranean (Spain, France and Italy) that will serve as guidelines for future dietary reconstructions; ii) address fundamental questions related to the early use of marine resources in this region in order to validate the hypotheses outlined above; and iii) establish the fellow at the forefront of the field increasing her opportunities for future career as an experienced researcher. The project has fully achieved most of its objectives and milestones for the period, with some deviations that increased the impact of the project.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The introduction of farming (6th millennium BC) fundamentally transformed the Western Mediterranean but prehistorians have long argued about the causes, tempo and completeness for this change. Stable isotope analysis (SIA) of ancient human bones provides a novel approach for addressing this problem directly reconstructing diet and crudely assessing the transition from foraging and fishing to farming. However, there are some uncertainties with this approach precluding the accurate determination of the extent to which Neolithic ‘farmers’ still relied on marine foods. This is important as a prominent model for the so-called ‘Neolithisation’ is of population replacement and of a complete change to domesticated cereals and animal products. The existing state-of-the-art relies on analysing bone protein from skeletal remains and relate these measurements to data obtained from potential food sources. NEOMEDIS aims to advance this approach by breaking down the protein into their constituent amino acids and analysing the carbon, nitrogen and sulfur isotopes in these individual molecules tracing different dietary components to obtain an approach that will provide a more accurate dietary reconstruction. NEOMEDIS will provide detailed dietary reconstructions for 75 Neolithic individuals from the NW Mediterranean dating from the first arrival of farming to the Middle Neolithic to examine the change over this period. Skeletal remains from key sites are already in hand, benefit from excellent chronologies and contextual information provided by leading expert collaborators in Spain, France and Italy. The fellowship will furnish the applicant in next-generation methods skills in SIA that are beginning to be widely applied in ecology, archaeology and geochemistry using facilities that are not yet available in her country. The applicant will obtain a unique skill set and the independence to pursue her own bioarchaeological research following a clear route towards professional maturity.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITY OF YORK · YORK NORTH YORKSHIRECoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union