Living on the Climate Edge Suitable for Early Farming: The Complex Subsistence Strategies of the Late Neolithic People at the Abora Site in Latvia

Abstract

Abstract The Late Neolithic Abora settlement site occupies a prominent place in Lake Lubāns micro-region archaeology. The Lake Lubāns wetland, including the Abora site, has been systematically researched by the archaeologist Ilze Biruta Loze in 1962–1990 and episodically in 1999–2012. Besides the settlement culture layers, the Abora site includes human burials as well, providing both osteological and archaeological material. Altogether, 61 burials have been excavated within the settlement territory. The Abora settlement is a tempting site for further investigations of complexities of the transition to farming in the Late Neolithic in Latvia. This paper represents an attempt to apply palaeodemographic methodology, 14C dating, FRUITS analysis and estimates of the freshwater reservoir effect to preserved osteological and archaeological material of Abora site and discusses the results in context with the previous data and archaeological interpretations. The new radiocarbon dates of the human bones generally correspond with the previous absolute dating of the site, spanning from 3484–3102 calBC to 2137–1925 calBC. The adult and adolescent isotopic data (29 individuals) generally corresponds very well with the local Lake Lubāns wetland isotope ecology. However, it contradicts the previous interpretations that overemphasised the role of domesticated animals and cultivated crops in the Abora human subsistence strategies. The new data show that the majority of individuals had a freshwater diet and others — a mixed freshwater/terrestrial diet.