Unravelling the resilience of the KGK VI population from the Gumelnița site (Romania) through stable isotopes
-
Published:2023-05-25
Issue:1
Volume:13
Page:
-
ISSN:2045-2322
-
Container-title:Scientific Reports
-
language:en
-
Short-container-title:Sci Rep
Author:
García-Vázquez Ana,Bălășescu Adrian,Vasile Gabriel,Golea Mihaela,Radu Valentin,Opriș Vasile,Ignat Theodor,Culea Mihaela,Covătaru Cristina,Sava Gabriela,Lazăr Cătălin
Abstract
AbstractThe Gumelnița site belongs to the Kodjadermen-Gumelnița-Karanovo VI (KGK VI) communities (c. 4700–3900 cal BC) and comprises the tell-type settlement and its corresponding cemetery. This paper reconstructs the diet and lifeways of the Chalcolithic people in the northeastern Balkans using archaeological remains found at the Gumelnița site (Romania). A multi-bioarchaeological investigation (archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, anthropology) was conducted on vegetal, animal, and human remains, alongside radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analyses (δ13C, δ15N) of humans (n = 33), mammals (n = 38), reptiles (n = 3), fishes (n = 8), freshwater mussels shells (n = 18), and plants (n = 24). According to the results of δ13C and δ15N values and FRUITS, the inhabitants of Gumelnița had a diet based on crops and using natural resources, such as fish, freshwater molluscs and game. Although domestic fauna was occasionally exploited for meat, it had a role in providing secondary products. Crops were heavily manured, and chaff and other crop waste may have been necessary fodder for cattle and sheep. Dogs and pigs fed on human waste, although the diet of the latter is more similar to that of wild boars. Foxes had a diet close to dogs, which may indicate synanthropic behaviour. Radiocarbon dates were calibrated with the percentage of freshwater resources obtained by FRUITS. As a result, the corrected dates for the freshwater reservoir effect (FRE) have a delay of an average of 147 years. According to our data, this agrarian community developed a subsistence strategy under the pressure of some climatic changes that started after 4300 cal BC, corresponding to KGK VI rapid collapse/decline episode tracked recently (that begins around 4350 cal BC). This matching of our data in the two models (climatic and chrono-demographic) allowed us to capture the economic strategies that led to the resilience of those people more than other contemporary KGK VI communities.
Funder
Ministry of Research, Innovation, and Digitisation
Fellowship of Young Researchers within the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest
Research Fellowship for Visiting Professors within the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest
Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization, CNCS/CCCDI – UEFISCDI
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Multidisciplinary
Reference144 articles.
1. Bailey, D. W. Balkan Prehistory. (Routledge, 2000). https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203461969.
2. Chapman, J. A Life in Balkan Archaeology. (Oxbow Books, 2021). https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1wvndcs.
3. Anthony, D. W. The rise and fall of Old Europe. in The lost world of Old Europe: The Danube Valley, 5000–3500 BC (eds. Anthony, D. W. & Chi, J. Y.) 26–57 (Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at NYU/Princeton University Press, 2010).
4. Lazăr, C., Mărgărit, M. & Radu, V. Between Dominant Ideologies and Techno-economical Constraints: Spondylus Ornaments from the Balkans in the 5th Millennium BC. in Interchange in Pre- and Protohistory. Case Studies in Iberia, Romania, Turkey and Israel. British Archaeological Reports, International Serie. (eds. Cruz, A. & Gibaja Bao, J. F.) 5–21 (Hadrian Books Ltd, 2018).
5. Hervella, M. et al. Ancient DNA from South-East Europe reveals different events during early and Middle Neolithic influencing the European Genetic Heritage. PLoS ONE 10, e0128810 (2015).