Isotopic insights from carpological remains: One of the first datasets for the Italian Bronze ageMendeley Data
Francesca Cortese,
Flavio De Angelis,
Luana Bontempo,
Nicola Carrara,
Maria Teresa Cuda,
Elisa Dalla Longa,
Iacopo Moggi Cecchi,
Lucia Sarti,
Letizia Silvestri,
Olga Rickards,
Mario Federico Rolfo
Affiliations
Francesca Cortese
Department of History, Culture and Society, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via Columbia 1, 00133 Rome, (RM), Italy; Corresponding author.
Flavio De Angelis
Centre of Molecular Anthropology for Ancient DNA Studies, Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata. Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Rome, (RM), Italy; Department of Biology, California State University Northridge. 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA 91330, United States
Luana Bontempo
Fondazione Edmund Mach, Research and Innovation Centre - Traceability Unit. Via Mach 1, 38098 San Michele all'Adige, (TN), Italy
Nicola Carrara
Museum of Nature and Humankind, University of Padua. Via Giotto 1, 35121 Padua, (PD), Italy
Maria Teresa Cuda
Civic Museum of the Prehistory of Mount Cetona. Via Roma 37, 53040 Cetona, (SI), Italy
Elisa Dalla Longa
University of Padua. Via Giotto 1, 35121 Padua, (PD), Italy
Iacopo Moggi Cecchi
Department of Biology, Laboratory of Anthropology, University of Florence. Via del Proconsolo 12, 50122 Florence, (FI), Italy
Lucia Sarti
Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche e dei Beni Culturali, Università di Siena, Via Roma 56, 53100 Siena, Italy
Letizia Silvestri
Department of History, Culture and Society, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via Columbia 1, 00133 Rome, (RM), Italy; Department of Archaeology, Durham University, South Road DH13LE Durham, United Kingdom; Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, Piazza Lovatelli, 35, 00186 Rome, Italy
Olga Rickards
Centre of Molecular Anthropology for Ancient DNA Studies, Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata. Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Rome, (RM), Italy
Mario Federico Rolfo
Department of History, Culture and Society, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via Columbia 1, 00133 Rome, (RM), Italy
Even though agriculture already spread into Eurasia during the Neolithic, the transition between the Copper Age and the Bronze Age was the time where Italian communities tuned horticultural techniques to foster the soil productivity. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses could be leveraged to identify some of those practices, such as manuring and irrigation. The former could spike the nitrogen values of plants, while water availability affects the carbon values.This work provides one of the first datasets of isotopic data for seeds from four Bronze Age Italian sites spanning overall from the end of the 3rd millennium to the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE: pile-dwelling of Ledro (TN, Trentino Alto Adige), settlement of S. Maria in Belverde (SI, Tuscany), Grotta Nuova (VT, Latium), and Grotta di Pastena (FR, Latium).One-hundred eighty seeds were first classified, then carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis were carried out for broad beans, wheat, emmer and barley. The obtained values were compared to predictive models to enhance the understanding of the agricultural efforts for each community. The provided dataset would be beneficial for future research on agricultural practices, subsistence strategies identification, and even local ecological reconstruction, as it represents one of the most extensive surveys for carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes values for plants in the focused time span.
