Herd management and subsistence practices as inferred from isotopic analysis of animals and plants at Bronze Age Politiko-Troullia, Cyprus

PLoS One. 2022 Oct 26;17(10):e0275757. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275757. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

The Bronze Age village of Politiko-Troullia, located in the foothills of the copper-bearing Troodos mountains of central Cyprus, was occupied ~2050-1850 cal BCE. Excavated evidence shows that community activities included copper metallurgy (ore processing, smelting and casting), crop cultivation, and rearing of livestock. Faunal analysis reveals day-to-day subsistence practices that included consumption of sheep, goat, cattle, and pig, as well as community-scale ritual feasting focused on fallow deer, Dama dama mesopotamica. In this paper, we present bone collagen stable isotope data from these taxa to infer how these animals were managed. We incorporate stable isotope baselines calculated from modern cereal grains and compare these to archaeological seeds from Politiko-Troullia. Mean values of δ13C and δ15N cluster for livestock consistent with a diet of C3 plants, with a wider range in goats that suggests free-browsing herds. Higher δ15N values in cattle may reflect supplemental feeding or grazing in manured fields. Plant isotope values suggest livestock diets were predominantly composed of cultivated taxa. In contrast, deer and pig bones produce more negative mean δ13C and δ15N values suggesting that the villagers of Politiko-Troullia complemented their management of domesticated animals with hunting of wild deer and feral pigs in the woodlands surrounding their village.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Animals, Wild
  • Carbon Isotopes / analysis
  • Cattle
  • Collagen
  • Copper*
  • Cyprus
  • Deer*
  • Diet
  • Goats
  • Isotopes
  • Livestock
  • Sheep
  • Swine

Substances

  • Copper
  • Isotopes
  • Collagen
  • Carbon Isotopes

Grants and funding

Funding was provided by National Science Foundation grants 0613760, 1031527, 1850259, 2114406, National Geographic Society grant 7820-05, a Harris Endowment Grant from the American Society of Overseas Research, and an Ignite Planning Grant from the University of North Carolina Charlotte. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.