Human diet in Mantua (Northern Italy)
Isotopic data on local communities dated from Copper Age to Middle Bronze Age
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22429148 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Francesca Cortése (0000-0003-0490-0033, University of Rome Tor Vergata, corresponding author), Leonardo Lamanna (Azienda Unita' Sanitaria Locale di Parma), Cristina Longhi (University of Brescia), Luana Bontempo (0000-0001-7583-1501, Fondazione Edmund Mach), F De Angelis (0000-0002-4747-2385, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli"), Mari Hirose (Azienda Ospedaliera Carlo Poma), Olga Rickards (0000-0003-2880-7466, University of Rome Tor Vergata), Mattia Rossi (University of Parma), Mario Federico Rolfo (0000-0003-2492-2387, University of Rome Tor Vergata), Paola Iacumin (0000-0001-6944-1814, University of Parma) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Publication date | 2026-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1866-9557 • E-ISSN: 1866-9565 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12520-026-02534-1 |
| OpenAlex | W7168356173 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 58 |
The Copper to Middle Bronze Ages are particularly significant times in Italian Protohistory, as they were marked by major dietary, social, and technological transformations. Stable isotope analysis has become a key tool in reconstructing past human diets. Although its application has expanded across the Italian Peninsula over the past decade, data for the Copper Age in northern Italy remain limited, and geographic coverage is still uneven. This study presents new isotopic evidence on 11 faunal specimens, and 101 humans from the province of Mantua (Lombardy), a region with a dense concentration of funerary contexts dating from the Copper Age to the Middle Bronze Age. The results reveal a consistent dietary pattern across the periods investigated, with protein intake derived predominantly from terrestrial animal sources and C 3 plants; no significant dietary differences were observed between sexes or age groups. The dietary continuity observed across nearly a millennium suggests that, despite broader socio-economic changes documented in the archaeological record, subsistence strategies in this region remained stable. The dietary homogeneity observed among buried individuals suggests consistent dietary practices within the funerary population. This study provides one of the first isotopic datasets from Northern Italy for the Copper Age and offers a new perspective on subsistence strategies in protohistoric Lombardy.
Bronze Age · Chalcolithic · Iron Age · Isotope analysis · Middle Stone Age · Peninsula · Subsistence agriculture · Zooarchaeology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Isotope Analysis in Ecology · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies
New AMS 14C dates track the arrival and spread of broomcorn millet cultivation and agricultural change in prehistoric Europe
Guidelines and recommended terms for expression of stable‐isotope‐ratio and gas‐ratio measurement results
Isotope evidence for agricultural extensification reveals how the world's first cities were fed
Food Reconstruction Using Isotopic Transferred Signals (FRUITS)
Quantifying dietary macronutrient sources of carbon for bone collagen biosynthesis using natural abundance stable carbon isotope analysis
Crop manuring and intensive land management by Europe’s first farmers
New Method of Collagen Extraction for Radiocarbon Dating
Postmortem preservation and alteration of in vivo bone collagen isotope ratios in relation to palaeodietary reconstruction
Nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of bone collagen from marine and terrestrial animals
Dietary continuity vs. discontinuity in Bronze Age Italy. The isotopic evidence from Arano di Cellore (Illasi, Verona, Italy)
Prehistory of plant growing and collecting in northern Italy, based on seed remains from the early Neolithic to the Chalcolithic (c. 5600–2100 cal b.c.)
Zooarchaeological evidence of functional and social differentiation in northern Italy between the Neolithic and Bronze ages
FRUITS of the sea? A cautionary tale regarding Bayesian modelling of palaeodiets using stable isotope data
Reconstruction of breastfeeding and weaning practices using stable isotope and trace element analyses
From the Neolithic to the Bronze Age in Central Italy
Economy and environment of Bronze Age settlements – Terramaras – on the Po Plain (Northern Italy)
Effects of diet, climate and physiology on nitrogen isotope abundances in terrestrial foodwebs
The impact of manuring on nitrogen isotope ratios in cereals
Focus
Alkaline cooking and stable isotope tissue-diet spacing in swine
Nitrogen isotopes and the trophic level of humans in archaeology
Bone Collagen Quality Indicators for Palaeodietary and Radiocarbon Measurements
Preparation and characterization of bone and tooth collagen for isotopic analysis
Rethinking Collective Burial in Mediterranean Caves
Bronze Age Textile & Wool Economy
Improved Collagen Extraction by Modified Longin Method
A Simple(R) Model to Predict the Source of Dietary Carbon in Individual Consumers
Detection of breastfeeding and weaning in modern human infants with carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios
The diet‐body offset in human nitrogen isotopic values
Stable isotope evidence for the consumption of millet and other plants in Bronze Age Italy
Quantitative diet reconstruction of a Neolithic population using a Bayesian mixing model (FRUITS)
Dietary Variability During Bronze Age in Central Italy
Social Dynamics and Resource Management Strategies in Copper Age Italy
Isotopic reconstruction of the subsistence strategy for a Central Italian Bronze Age community (Pastena cave, 2nd millennium BCE)
New data on agro-pastoral diets in southern Italy from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age
Eneolithic subsistence economy in Central Italy
A combined analysis of dietary habits in the Bronze Age site of Ballabio (northern Italy)
Estimating C4 plant consumption in Bronze Age Northeastern Italy through stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bone collagen
Palaeodiet reconstruction inferred by stable isotopes analysis of faunal and human remains at Bronze Age Punta di Zambrone (Calabria, Italy)
The effect of growth on stable nitrogen isotope ratios in subadult bone collagen
The secondary exploitation of animals in the Old World
The Secondary Products Revolution
Infant and childhood morbidity and mortality risks in archaeological populations
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |