ISOTOPIC INVESTIGATION OF ANIMAL MOVEMENT PATTERNS IN LATE GLACIAL ITALY.
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2021-03-01

Historical records show seasonal transhumance was practiced in central Italy in order to feed flocks with fresh pastures in summer and provide shelter in winter. Herds were moved from coastal lowlands to mountain highlands in spring and returned to the former in autumn. Archaeologists have proposed such movement for wild animals in the region during the Late Glacial and that hunter-gatherers followed these animals as a fruitful hunting strategy. We tested this hypothesis by determining sequential oxygen and strontium isotope ratios in third molars of archaeological equid and cervid species to explore the animals’ seasonal ranging behaviour. M3’s in both animals mineralise gradually enough to record one or more winter-summer shifts, oxygen isotopes provide a proxy for climate and environmental conditions, and strontium isotopes for the geological substrates covered during this period. Here we present the d18O and 87Sr/86Sr results from teeth selected from three stadial and interstadial layers of the Upper Palaeolithic archaeological sequence of Settecannelle (Lazio). Comparative modern samples were measured to investigate the bioavailable strontium background for this specific area. Intra-tooth sequences show strong 87Sr/86Sr attenuation compared to the variability observed in the environment, but there are consistent variations observed to indicate seasonal movements across the region. However, such movements seem opposite to what is hypothesised and to have changed little through time.


Author(s): Pellegrini, Maura - Lee-Thorp, Julia (Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford) - Le Roux, Petrus (Department of Geology, University of Cape Town) - Ucelli Gnesutta, Paola (Department of Archaeology, University of Pisa) - Donahue, Randolph (Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University)