Corso di Dottorato di ricerca in Scienze dell’Antichità ciclo 29° Tesi di Ricerca Stable Isotope Analysis of Human and Faunal Remains. A Palaeodietary Investigation into Chalcolithic and Bronze Age Cyprus. SSD: L-ANT/01 Coordinatore del Dottorato Ch. Prof. Luigi Sperti Supervisore Ch. Prof. Filippo Maria Carinci Dottorando Caterina Scirè Calabrisotto Matricola 956139 1. Abstract Studente: Caterina Scirè Calabrisotto matricola: 956139 Dottorato: Scienze dell’Antichità Ciclo: 29° Titolo della tesi: Stable Isotope Analysis of Human and Faunal Remains. A Palaeodietary Investigation into Chalcolithic and Bronze Age Cyprus. Abstract: This study focuses on the Chalcolithic and Early to Middle Bronze Age periods of Cypriot prehistory (ca. 3900-1650 BC) and utilises stable light isotope analysis of bone and teeth to explore issues of diet and subsistence economy. A total of 100 human and animal skeletal samples from eight archaeological sites pertaining to the investigated period have been processed. Measurements were conducted either on bone and dentine collagen (C, N) or on tooth enamel carbonate (C, O). The new isotopic dataset is discussed within the frame of three main research aims: 1) to investigate possible dietary differences among the selected prehistoric communities, distinguishing between the Chalcolithic and the Early to Middle Bronze Age periods; 2) to clarify whether the pre and proto-historic inhabitants of Cyprus also relied on freshwater and marine foods; 3) to identify possible individual patterns of consumption, especially gender-related differences in the diet. Firma dello studente i 2. Acknowledgements This work of thesis has benefited from the support and advice of many people. Firstly, I must thank my supervisor, Prof. Filippo Maria Carinci, for placing his trust and confidence in my abilities to carry out this research. I would like to express special thanks to the acting directors of the Department of Antiquity of Cyprus – Dr. Marina Solomidou-Ieronymidou and Dr. Despo Pilides – and to the numerous archaeologists who have granted me permission to sample and analyse the skeletal material recovered at the archaeological sites included within this study: Demetra Aristotelous, Luca Bombardieri, Polina Christofi, David Frankel, Jennifer Webb, Edgar Peltenburg, Andrew Sneddon, Ian Todd, Alison South and Yiannis Violaris. My deepest and sincere gratitude goes to Popi Chrysostomou for her willingness in assisting me during the sampling procedure and easing bureaucratic practices. Along these lines, I must thank Derek C. Benedix, Paul Croft and David Reese for providing valuable advice in the sampling of the faunal remains. I would like to acknowledge Paola Ricci, Carmine Lubritto and the staff of the IRMS Laboratory of the Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Farmaceutiche of the Seconda Università di Napoli for helping me in preparing and measuring most of the bone samples. Very special thanks go to Julia Lee-Thorp for supporting my internship at the RLAHA Laboratory of the University of Oxford and offering helpful suggestions to improve this dissertation. Thanks are also due to Ian Cartwright for his help with the photographic documentation of teeth and to Peter Ditchfield and David Peat for their patience and support in the preparation and measurement of the samples I have analysed at the RLAHA. I also thank Gwenaëlle Goude from the Laboratoire méditerranéen de préhistoire Europe Afrique (Aix-en-Provence) for providing useful details on her isotopic work in Cyprus. Finally and foremost, I must thank my family and my friends for their constant encouragement and full support in completing this research project. I owe special thanks to Antonio G. Santoro for his informatics and statistical advice and for supporting me through every stage of this work. Grateful thanks must go to the organisations who have given me financial support: the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute for awarding me the Anita Cecil O’Donovan fellowship and the Scottish Archaeological Research Framework for supporting a conference visit. ii 3. Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. ii Contents ............................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ...................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION. ........................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 2. ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT. ................................................................ 8 2.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 8 2.2. The island of Cyprus ............................................................................................ 8 2.2.1. Topography and geology ...................................................................................... 9 2.2.2. Hydrology ........................................................................................................... 10 2.2.3. Vegetation ........................................................................................................... 11 2.2.4. Climate ............................................................................................................... 12 2.3. Palaeoenvironment ............................................................................................. 14 2.3.1. Climatic reconstruction....................................................................................... 15 2.3.2. Sea-level fluctuations ......................................................................................... 17 2.3.3. Flora and Fauna .................................................................................................. 18 2.4. Investigated regions ............................................................................................ 20 2.4.1. The Ktima lowlands ........................................................................................... 20 2.4.2. The Southern Chalk Plateaus .............................................................................. 21 a. Kouris River valley ......................................................................................... 21 b. Vasilikos River valley ..................................................................................... 23 2.4.3. Central lowlands ................................................................................................. 23 CHAPTER 3. HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT. ......................... 25 iii 3.1. Chalcolithic ......................................................................................................... 25 3.1.1. Settlements, architecture and material culture .................................................... 26 3.1.2. Subsistence economy .......................................................................................... 30 3.2. Transition to the Bronze Age: the Philia phase .................................................. 32 3.3. The Early and Middle Bronze Ages ................................................................... 33 3.3.1. Settlements, architecture and material culture .................................................... 34 3.3.2. Subsistence economy .......................................................................................... 36 3.4. Chronology ......................................................................................................... 38 CHAPTER 4. METHODOLOGY. ..................................................................................... 40 4.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 40 4.2. Stable isotopes: terminology, notation and measurement .................................. 41 4.3. Palaeodiet reconstruction with carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes .................. 44 4.3.1. Principles of diet reconstruction from stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios 45 a. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems .... 46 b. Factors affecting δ13C and δ15N values of dietary resources .......................... 49 4.3.2. Stable isotope analysis of bone and teeth ........................................................... 50 4.4. Materials and methods ........................................................................................ 52 CHAPTER 5. DIET IN THE CHALCOLITHIC: STUDY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES. ...................................................................................................................................... 57 5.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 57 5.2. Investigated sites ................................................................................................ 58 5.2.1. ERIMI-PAMBOULA ......................................................................................... 58 a. Chronology ....................................................................................................