Stojanovski, Darko, Živaljević, Ivana, Dimitrijević, Vesna et al. (16 more authors) (2020) Living off the land:Terrestrial-based diet and dairying in the farming communities of the Neolithic Balkans. PLoS ONE. e0237608. e0237608. ISSN 1932-6203
Abstract
The application of biomolecular techniques to archaeological materials from the Balkans is providing valuable new information on the prehistory of the region. This is especially relevant for the study of the neolithisation process in SE Europe, which gradually affected the rest of the continent. Here, to answer questions regarding diet and subsistence practices in early farming societies in the central Balkans, we combine organic residue analyses of archaeological pottery, taxonomic and isotopic study of domestic animal remains and biomolecular analyses of human dental calculus. The results from the analyses of the lipid residues from pottery suggest that milk was processed in ceramic vessels. Dairy products were shown to be part of the subsistence strategies of the earliest Neolithic communities in the region but were of varying importance in different areas of the Balkan. Conversely, milk proteins were not detected within the dental calculus. The molecular and isotopic identification of meat, dairy, plants and beeswax in the pottery lipids also provided insights into the diversity of diet in these early Neolithic communities, mainly based on terrestrial resources. We also present the first compound-specific radiocarbon dates for the region, obtained directly from absorbed organic residues extracted from pottery, identified as dairy lipids.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | ©2020 Stojanovski et al. |
Keywords: | Agriculture/methods,Animals,Archaeology,Balkan Peninsula,Ceramics/chemistry,Dairying/methods,Diet,Farmers,Humans,Lipids/analysis,Milk/chemistry,Milk Proteins/analysis,Waxes |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (York) > Archaeology (York) The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Chemistry (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 21 Aug 2020 09:20 |
Last Modified: | 11 Dec 2024 00:16 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237608 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0237608 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:164722 |