Abstract
The spread of farming in the central and western Mediterranean took place rapidly, linked to the Impressa Ware. The Impressa Ware originated somewhere in the southern Adriatic and spread westwards across the Mediterranean. These early farmers had an economy based on cereal agriculture and caprine husbandry, but there is still little information on how this agropastoral system functioned. This study aims to unravel the farming practices of the early Dalmatian farmers linked to the Impressa culture by using an integrated analysis, combining archaeozoology, palaeoproteomics and stable isotopes, applied to the faunal assemblages of Tinj-Podlivade and Crno Vrilo. The results show: (1) the composition of the flocks was overwhelmingly sheep; (2) sheep exploitation at both sites was similar, focusing on milk and meat; (3) sheep reproduction was concentrated at the beginning of winter, with no reproduction in autumn as in later sites in the western Mediterranean. We conclude that a common animal economy existed at both sites, which could be related to the mobility practiced by these early farming societies throughout the Mediterranean.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 10355 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Scientific reports |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 26 Jun 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work has been carried out under the funding of the project Impressa sheep: husbandry practices of the first farming societies in the Eastern Adriatic by the Fyssen Foundation. In addition, we would like to thank Natalija Čondić (Archaeological Museum of Zadar) and Dario Vujević (University of Zadar) for their support in Croatia. We would also like to thank Maria Saña (Autonomous University of Barcelona), Alfonso Abecia (University of Zaragoza) and Stašo Forenbaher (Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb, retired) for interesting discussions on different parts of the paper. Finally, we would like to thank Krista McGrath for the loan of the ICTA-UAB laboratories and for the laboratory support provided. Stable isotope analyses were performed at the SSMIM (MNHN, Paris).
Funding Information:
This work has been carried out under the funding of the project Impressa sheep: husbandry practices of the first farming societies in the Eastern Adriatic by the Fyssen Foundation. In addition, we would like to thank Natalija Čondić (Archaeological Museum of Zadar) and Dario Vujević (University of Zadar) for their support in Croatia. We would also like to thank Maria Saña (Autonomous University of Barcelona), Alfonso Abecia (University of Zaragoza) and Stašo Forenbaher (Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb, retired) for interesting discussions on different parts of the paper. Finally, we would like to thank Krista McGrath for the loan of the ICTA-UAB laboratories and for the laboratory support provided. Stable isotope analyses were performed at the SSMIM (MNHN, Paris).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).