Establishment of a Greek Food Database for Palaeodiet Reconstruction: Case Study of Human and Fauna Remains from Neolithic to Late Bronze Age from Greece
Elissavet Dotsika,
Georgios Diamantopoulos,
Spyridon Lykoudis,
Sofia Gougoura,
Elena Kranioti,
Petros Karalis,
Dimitra Michael,
Eleni Samartzidou,
Emmanouil Palaigeorgiou
Affiliations
Elissavet Dotsika
Stable Isotope Unit, Institute of Nanoscience and nanotechnology, National Center of Scientific Research “Demokritos”, GR15310 Ag. Paraskevi Attikis, Greece
Georgios Diamantopoulos
Stable Isotope Unit, Institute of Nanoscience and nanotechnology, National Center of Scientific Research “Demokritos”, GR15310 Ag. Paraskevi Attikis, Greece
Spyridon Lykoudis
National Observatory of Athens, Institute of Environmental Research and Sustainable Development, I. Metaxa and V. Pavlou, GR15236 P. Pendeli, Greece
Sofia Gougoura
Stable Isotope Unit, Institute of Nanoscience and nanotechnology, National Center of Scientific Research “Demokritos”, GR15310 Ag. Paraskevi Attikis, Greece
Elena Kranioti
School of History, Classics and Archaeology, William Robertson Wing, University of Edinburgh, Old Medical Quad, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK
Petros Karalis
Stable Isotope Unit, Institute of Nanoscience and nanotechnology, National Center of Scientific Research “Demokritos”, GR15310 Ag. Paraskevi Attikis, Greece
Dimitra Michael
Stable Isotope Unit, Institute of Nanoscience and nanotechnology, National Center of Scientific Research “Demokritos”, GR15310 Ag. Paraskevi Attikis, Greece
Eleni Samartzidou
Vasilissis Olgas 84B, 54643 Thessaloniki, Greece
Emmanouil Palaigeorgiou
Stable Isotope Unit, Institute of Nanoscience and nanotechnology, National Center of Scientific Research “Demokritos”, GR15310 Ag. Paraskevi Attikis, Greece
We review the stable isotopic data of recovered Greek bones from the Early Neolithic to the Late Bronze period in order to examine dietary changes over time. As an isotopic baseline we use the published fauna data of the periods. The analysis revealed a diet that included a significant proportion of foods based on C3 plants, and the bulk of the animal protein must have been provided by terrestrial mammals with a small but detectable proportion of marine protein for coastal and island populations. A more significant contribution of marine protein is observed for Bronze Age populations while the enrichment in both C and N isotopes is connected, for some areas, to the introduction of millet during the Bronze Age, and to freshwater consumption. An extensive database of Greek food sources is presented and compared to the fauna from the prehistoric periods (Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age) of the literature. We propose that this database can be used in palaeodiet reconstruction studies.
