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Dietary Practices at the Onset of the Neolithic in the Western Mediterranean Revealed Using a Combined Biomarker and Isotopic Approach

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Times of Neolithic Transition along the Western Mediterranean

Part of the book series: Fundamental Issues in Archaeology ((FIAR))

Abstract

Impressed/Cardial Wares are thought to have spread simultaneously with domesticates through the Western Mediterranean at the onset of the Neolithic. Their function is often associated with processing domestic animal and plant products, although this has never been investigated, thus excluding the possibility that a wider range of resources was used, including wild animals and marine foods. To test this, organic residue analysis (ORA) was carried out to characterise the content, hence function of a wide selection of Impressed/Cardial Ware vessels excavated from 14 early farming sites across the Western Mediterranean. The results obtained using chromatographic and isotopic techniques are hereby presented.

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Acknowledgements

C.D.-S. and O.E.C. thank the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) for funding the study and for providing further funding to carry out compound-specific isotope analysis at the NERC Life Sciences Mass Spectrometry Facility at the University of Bristol, run by Alison Kuhl. Further compound-specific isotope analysis was carried out by Anu Thompson at the University of Liverpool, and Paul Donahoe at the University of Newcastle. The following are thanked from providing the ceramic samples: Francesca Radina (Apulia, Italy), Elena Natali (Calabria, Italy), Maria Antonietta Fugazzola Delpino and Luca Bondioli (Lazio, Italy), Stašo Forenbaher (Croatia), Manel Edo and Ferran Antolin (Catalonia), MariaElena Zammit, Sharon Sultana, Anthony Pace and Nathaniel Cutajar (Malta). Marike Schreiber helped in the production of Fig. 10.1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of York, BioArCh, Environment Building, York, UK

    Cynthianne Spiteri & Oliver E. Craig

  2. Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Archäologie des Mittelalters, Eberhard Karls Universität, Tübingen, Germany

    Cynthianne Spiteri

  3. Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Puglia, Centro Operativo per l’archeologia della Daunia, Foggia, Italy

    Italo M. Muntoni

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  1. Cynthianne Spiteri
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Correspondence to Cynthianne Spiteri .

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  1. PREMEDOC Research Group, Departament de Prehistὸria Arqueologia i Histὸria Antiga, Universitat de València, València, Spain

    Oreto García-Puchol

  2. Grupo de Investigación en Prehistoria IT-622-13 (UPV-EHU)/IKERBASQUE-Basque Foundation for Science, Vitoria, Spain

    Domingo C. Salazar-García

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Spiteri, C., Muntoni, I.M., Craig, O.E. (2017). Dietary Practices at the Onset of the Neolithic in the Western Mediterranean Revealed Using a Combined Biomarker and Isotopic Approach. In: García-Puchol, O., Salazar-García, D. (eds) Times of Neolithic Transition along the Western Mediterranean. Fundamental Issues in Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52939-4_10

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