Lawn on the Waves: Isotope analysis reveals prehistoric Greek diet

PCA of humans and related animals from Franchthi. Credit: PLOS ONE (2025). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0310834
Simon Fraser University, the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and the University of Bologna conducted an isotopic study of the dietary patterns of Mesolithic and Neolithic humans at the Franhiti Cave in Greece. The report confirms a land-based diet with negligible consumption of marine resources during these periods.
Overlooking the Koirada Bay in the Peloponnese, Franhiti Cave is one of the most important prehistoric sites in Greece, spanning a period of approximately 40,000 years of occupation. The place is stunningly beautiful, with a high vaulted arch at the entrance to the cave, inviting visitors into an otherworldly space.
It was excavated between 1967 and 1979 and provides a continuous record from the Upper Paleolithic to the Neolithic. The transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic is marked by the emergence of agriculture throughout Europe, especially in coastal areas, and a change in dietary dependence from marine to terrestrial resources. Previous isotopic studies of Franci suggested minimal ocean input, despite its coastal location.
The new study builds on these earlier findings by employing high-resolution, compound-specific isotope analysis of amino acids in human and animal remains, showing that the diets of the Early Mesolithic and Middle Neolithic Frankti habits revealed.
In the study published in PLOS ONE, “High-resolution isotope diet analysis of Mesolithic and Neolithic humans in Franci Cave, Greece,” researchers examined isotopic data from bone collagen from five humans and six animals. .
Accelerator mass spectrometry identified two Early Mesolithic humans (8700 BC to 8500 BC) and three Middle Neolithic humans (6600 BC to 5800 BC).
Collagen was extracted and analyzed for bulk stable isotopes of carbon-13 (δ13C) and nitrogen-15 (δ15N) and compound-specific isotopes of individual amino acids. Radiocarbon dating revealed the temporal context, placing two people in the Early Mesolithic (8700-8300 BC) and three in the Middle Neolithic (6600-5800 BC). Amino acid-specific proxies containing comparative changes in carbon-13 (Δ13C) and nitrogen-15 (Δ15N) were used to differentiate food sources and assess nutrient position.
Human carbon-13 (δ13C) and nitrogen-15 (δ15N) values indicate a terrestrial diet dominated by animal protein, with negligible intake from the ocean. Isotopic signatures do not suggest significant dependence on fish or other marine resources.
Essential amino acids such as phenylalanine (Phe) and valine (Val) have consistently placed humans in the realm of terrestrial C3 plant consumers. Nitrogen-based proxies such as nitrogen-15 changes between glutamate and phenylalanine (Δ15NGlu-Phe) revealed trophic positions consistent with high intake of terrestrial proteins. Lower Mesolithic individuals showed values reflecting significant meat consumption, whereas Middle Neolithic individuals showed slightly more dietary variation.
Neolithic sheep showed elevated levels of nitrogen 15, suggesting they grazed nitrogen-rich coastal vegetation. Pigs and canids are omnivorous, so food scraps provided by humans are likely involved.
Humans in both eras relied primarily on terrestrial resources, such as animal protein, and consumed little or no marine foods. Despite the presence of numerous remains of shallow-sea fish and shells in Francity, consumption of such resources during the Lower Mesolithic was not significant enough to leave clear isotopic traces in the analyzed individuals. Ta.
Isotopic results from the Middle Neolithic suggest that sheep were likely grazing on the coast and that humans relied on a diet consisting primarily of terrestrial protein, mostly sheep-derived meat and milk. It became clear.
Consumption of aquatic resources at Francity may have been occasional or seasonal at best for the individuals analyzed, but was not of sufficient magnitude to be revealed by the amino acid data.
Samples with the highest density of fish bones (Late Upper Paleolithic, Upper Mesolithic, and Early Upper Neolithic) were not included in the analysis. Although this finding is important for the Lower Mesolithic and Middle Neolithic strata, it does not fully represent the extent of marine resource consumption in the Mesolithic and Neolithic Cave of Franci.
Although the finding that easy access to nearby marine food sources should be ignored in favor of terrestrial food sources may seem counterintuitive, the authors argue that Franch Cave was once pointed out that it was located up to 2 kilometers from the coast.
In a 2018 study led by the University of Bern published in the Swiss Journal of Geosciences, “Flooding the Landscape: Impact of Holocene Transgression on Coastal Sedimentology and Underwater Archeology in Kirada Bay (Greece),” researchers determined that Kirada Bay was above the sea. level.
Studies of Quirada Bay show that the coastline is much further from Francity Cave than its current location, and that rising sea levels began to gradually inundate the bay with floodplains from about 4300 B.C. .
During the Neolithic period, most of Kirada Bay was above sea level. Human settlement and agricultural activity may have flourished on this submerged land, complete with livestock and farmland, providing food crops and sheep for the cave dwellers.
Further information: Valentina Martinoia et al, High-resolution isotope diet analysis of Mesolithic and Neolithic humans from Franhiti Cave, Greece, PLOS ONE (2025). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0310834
© 2025 Science X Network
Citation: Turf over surf: Isotope analysis reveals dietary habits of prehistoric Greece (January 20, 2025) https://phys.org/news/2025-01-turf-surf-isotope-analysis Retrieved January 20, 2025 from -reveals.html
This document is subject to copyright. No part may be reproduced without written permission, except in fair dealing for personal study or research purposes. Content is provided for informational purposes only.