Dental calculus and isotopes provide direct evidence of fish and plant consumption in Mesolithic Mediterranean

TY - JOUR

T1 - Dental calculus and isotopes provide direct evidence of fish and plant consumption in Mesolithic Mediterranean

AU - Cristiani, Emanuela

AU - Radini, Anita

AU - Borić, Dušan

AU - Robson, Harry Kenneth

AU - Caricola, Isabella

AU - Carra, Marialetizia

AU - Mutri, Giuseppina

AU - Oxilia, Gregorio

AU - Zupancich, Andrea

AU - Šlaus, Mario

AU - Vujević, Dario

N1 - © The Author(s) 2018

PY - 2018/5/25

Y1 - 2018/5/25

N2 - In this contribution we dismantle the perceived role of marine resources and plant foods in the subsistence economy of Holocene foragers of the Central Mediterranean using a combination of dental calculus and stable isotope analyses. The discovery of fish scales and flesh fragments, starch granules and other plant and animal micro-debris in the dental calculus of a Mesolithic forager dated to the end of the 8th millenium BC and buried in the Vlakno Cave on Dugi Otok Island in the Croatian Archipelago demonstrates that marine resources were regularly consumed by the individual together with a variety of plant foods. Since previous stable isotope data in the Eastern Adriatic and the Mediterranean region emphasises that terrestrial-based resources contributed mainly to Mesolithic diets in the Mediterranean Basin, our results provide an alternative view of the dietary habits of Mesolithic foragers in the Mediterranean region based on a combination of novel methodologies and data.

AB - In this contribution we dismantle the perceived role of marine resources and plant foods in the subsistence economy of Holocene foragers of the Central Mediterranean using a combination of dental calculus and stable isotope analyses. The discovery of fish scales and flesh fragments, starch granules and other plant and animal micro-debris in the dental calculus of a Mesolithic forager dated to the end of the 8th millenium BC and buried in the Vlakno Cave on Dugi Otok Island in the Croatian Archipelago demonstrates that marine resources were regularly consumed by the individual together with a variety of plant foods. Since previous stable isotope data in the Eastern Adriatic and the Mediterranean region emphasises that terrestrial-based resources contributed mainly to Mesolithic diets in the Mediterranean Basin, our results provide an alternative view of the dietary habits of Mesolithic foragers in the Mediterranean region based on a combination of novel methodologies and data.

U2 - 10.1038/s41598-018-26045-9

DO - 10.1038/s41598-018-26045-9

M3 - Article

SN - 2045-2322

VL - 8

JO - Scientific Reports

JF - Scientific Reports

IS - 8147

M1 - 8:8147

ER -