Vaiglova, P., Halstead, P.L. orcid.org/0000-0002-3347-0637, Pappa, M. et al. (8 more authors) (2018) Of cattle and feasts: multi-isotope investigation of animal husbandry and communal feasting at Neolithic Makriyalos, northern Greece. PLoS ONE, 13 (6). e0194474. ISSN 1932-6203
Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate livestock husbandry and its relationship to the mobilization of domestic animals for slaughter at large communal feasting events, in Late Neolithic Makriyalos, northern Greece. A multi-isotope approach is built that integrates analysis of: 1. δ13C and δ15N values of human and animal bone collagen for understanding long-term dietary behavior, 2. Incremental δ13C and δ18O values of domestic animal tooth enamel carbonate for assessing seasonal patterns in grazing habits and mobility, and 3. 87Sr/86Sr ratios of cattle tooth enamel for examining the possibility that some of the animals consumed at the site were born outside the local environment. The findings indicate that cattle had isotopically more variable diets than sheep, which may reflect grazing over a wider catchment area in the local landscape. Cattle products did not make a significant contribution to the long-term dietary protein intake of the humans, which may indicate that they were primarily consumed during episodic feasting events. There is no indication that pasturing of livestock was pre-determined by their eventual context of slaughter (i.e. large-scale feasting vs. more routine consumption events). Two nonlocal cattle identified among those deposited in a feasting context may have been brought to the site as contributions to these feasts. The evidence presented provides a more detailed insight into local land use and into the role of livestock and feasting in forging social relationships within the regional human population.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 Vaiglova et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Sheffield) > Department of Archaeology (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 18 Jun 2018 15:38 |
Last Modified: | 18 Jun 2018 15:38 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0194474 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0194474 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:131899 |