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MediterraneanArchaeologyandArchaeometry,Vol.9,No.2,pp.114
Copyright2009MAAPrintedinGreece.Allrightsreserved.
STABLEISOTOPEANALYSISOFTHEMIDDLE
HELLADICPOPULATIONFROMTWOCEMETERIES
ATASINE:BARBOUNAANDTHEEASTCEMETERY
A.IngvarssonSundstrm*,1,M.P.Richards2,S.Voutsaki3
1DepartmentofArchaeologyandAncientHistory,UniversityofUppsala,Box626,SE75126
UPPSALA,Sweden
2
Department
of
Human
Evolution,
Max
Planck
Institute
for
Evolutionary
Anthropology,
DeutscherPlatz6,D04105Leipzig,Germany([email protected])
3InstituteofArchaeology,UniversityofGroningen,Poststraat6,NL9712ERGroningen,The
Netherlands([email protected])
Received:21/1/2009
Accepted:23/4/2009 Correspondingauthor:A.IngvarssonSundstrm
ABSTRACT
Inthispaperwereporttheresultsofthestablecarbonandnitrogenisotopeanalyses
ofhumans from twoMiddleBronzeAgecemeteriesatAsine,Greece:Barbouna (n=6)
and theEastCemetery (n=13). Ingeneral, thedietarypatternof adults andjuveniles
showsaheavyrelianceonmainlyterrestrialfoods;C3plantsandavaryingamountof
animalprotein(meat,milkordairyproducts).Thehighnitrogenvaluesofsome indi
viduals from theEast cemetery indicatea substantial consumptionofanimalprotein,
although the carbon values show thatnodetectable amounts ofmarine foods, orC4
plants such asmillet hadbeen consumed.High nitrogen values aswell as the high
slaughterageofdomesticanimals,asfoundinpreviousstudiespointtowardsasignifi
cantutilizationofmilkanddairyproductsatAsine.Alowincreaseofnitrogenvaluesinsubadultsyounger thanoneyearsof age fromBarbouna compared to femalesat the
East cemetery indicates that these childrenmayhavebeen fedbreastmilkaswellas
supplementaryfoods.Therefore,despitethepoorpreservationandunevensamplesize,
theAsine isotopicdatagiveus informationondietduring theMHperiod,aswellas
variationbetweenthemembersofthecommunity.
KEYWORDS:Stableisotopeanalysis,Asine,BronzeAge,MiddleHelladic,diet,wean
ing
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A.INGVARSSONSUNDSTRMetal2
INTRODUCTION
The reconstructionofprehistoricdi
ets through stable isotope analysis of
carbonandnitrogeninhumanbonecol
lagen has become an important and
widespread part of many bioarchae
ologicalandenvironmentalstudies.The
information gained from osteological
analysesand thechemicaldataderived
from the bones have shown to be a
fruitful combination complementing
each other and contributing towards a
morecomprehensiveknowledgeofdiet,
healthandhuman culturaldiversity inpast societies. Within the area of Ae
gean prehistory a growing body of
analyseshas focussedonmaterial from
Greece (Richards and Hedges, 1999;
Tzedakis andMartlew, 1999; Papatha
nasiouetal.,2000;Triantaphyllou,2001;Papathanasiou, 2003; Bourbou& Rich
ards,2007;Lagiaetal.,2007;Petroutsaetal., 2007; Richards and Hedges, 2008;RichardsandVika,2008;Triantaphyllou
etal.,2008).Theanalysispresentedhereis part of a broader interdisciplinary
researchprogramme,theMiddleHelladicArgolidProject (onhttp://www.MHArgolid.nl)whosemain aim is to recon
struct social organization and social
change during theMiddle BronzeAge
(orMiddleHelladic[MH]period,2100
1700 BC) in the region of theArgolid,
southern Greece. The examination of
dietary variation is an important component of this project, and analyses
have already been carried out on
neighbouring Lerna (Triantaphyllou etal., 2008) andAspis (Triantaphyllou etal., in print),while this paper presentstheanalysisfromAsine.
The basic concepts behind dietary
reconstructions of past populations
havealreadybeenextensivelyreviewed
elsewhere (Sealy, 2001; Katzenberg,
2000). In short, different food sources
have characteristic stable carbon
(13C/12C, expressed as 13C values) and
nitrogen isotope ratios (15N/14N, ex
pressed as 15N values) which are
passedfromproducertoconsumerand
accumulate in thehumanbodyduring
the individuals lifetime, with some
fractionation. Therefore,measurements
of the isotopic composition of human
bone collagenwillgenerally reflect the
individuals diet, i.e.whether the pro
tein consumed came from terrestrial,marine or freshwater resources, or a
combinationthereof.
Sinceatmospheric carbon enters the
food chain primarily through the pho
tosynthesisofplantsitispossibletodif
ferentiatebetween consumptionofC3,
C4 orCAMplantswhich employsdif
ferent photosynthetic pathways
(Keegan, 1989). Most European plants
belong to the C3 group (e.g. cereals,
fruits, nuts and trees) and have quite
low carbon values whereas C4plants,
such as tropical grasses, maize, sor
ghum and millet have higher carbon
values. The CAMplants (for example
pineapple,succulentsandcacti)employ
a less commonpathway and their val
uesare roughly intermediate toC3and
C4plants(Katzenberg,2000).InEurope
whereC4plantsareuncommon,carbon
valueshaveoftenbeenusedtodifferentiatebetween terrestrialandmarinedi
ets (Schoeninger et al., 1983; RichardsandHedges,1999).For instance,apre
dominantly marine feeding pattern
would show carbon values around
12,whereas a dietbasedmainly on
terrestrialfoodswouldshowlowercar
bonandnitrogenvalues.
Nitrogen isotopes indicate the tro
phicleveloftheconsumer,i.e.whether
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STABLEISOTOPEANALYSISOFTHEMIDDLEHELLADICPOPULATION 3
animalsorplantswerethemainprotein
source.Most plants have low propor
tions of protein compared to animals
(VanKlinkenetal.,2000).Ahighnitrogenvaluewillthusindicatethatalargeamount of the individuals protein in
take came from animals, either in the
formofmeatordairyproducts.A fur
ther distinction can bemade between
plants of different 15N values: some
plantssuchaslegumestakeupnitrogen
through the atmosphere (i.e. nitrogen
fixers)which result in a low nitrogen
value,whereasnonlegumesplantstake
up nitrogen from the soil and have
higher nitrogen values (Keegan, 1989).
The noted difference between trophic
levels has alsomade nitrogen isotopes
suitable for analyses of breastfeeding
patterns: When children are breastfed
theyareonahigher trophic level than
theirmothers.Thus,theirnitrogenlevel
will be about 23 higher than their
mothers value.When other foods are
introduced their nitrogen values willgradually decrease tobecome equal to
adultvalues(Fulleretal.,2006).
THESITEOFASINE
Oneofthe importantandwellstud
iedMiddleHelladic settlements in the
Argolid is Asine, located on the coast
near the modern village of Tolo. The
SwedishexcavationsatAsinehavebeen
carried out in successive campaignssincethe1920s(seeNordquist&Hgg,
1996forareviewoftheexcavations).A
largenumberofgraveshavebeenexca
vated in connection to theMH settle
mentatAsine:within thesettlementat
Kastraki, among ruined houses on the
slope of the nearby Barbouna hill as
wellas inanunsettledareaeastof the
acropolis(EastCemetery).Hereliesthe
significanceoftheAsinemortuarydata:
they allow a comparisonbetween dif
ferentburialgrounds,usedperhapsby
different segments of the community.
Unfortunately, many of the skeletonsfromtheearliestexcavationsatKastraki
havebeenlost.
TheEastCemeterywasusedonlyfor
burials,and ithasbeen suggested ear
lier that this cemeterybelonged to the
elite groups as evidenced by the
wealthygraves found there, aswellas
theexistenceofatumulus.Itshouldbe
pointed out, however, that the differ
encesbetween theburialgroundsmay
not be as marked as previously sug
gested; the C14 data have somewhat
modified the history of the tumulus
(Milka,2007).
In the 1970sLawrenceAngel exam
ined theskeletonsfrom theEastCeme
teryandBarbouna. Inhis reportAngel
concluded that theBronzeAgepopula
tionatAsinewaslesshealthythanother
BronzeAgepopulationsinGreece(An
gel,1982).Hebelieved that inadequatenutrition and especially a lackofmeat
protein could havebeen the primarily
responsible factor for thebadhealthof
thepopulationandproposed thatbone
chemistry was needed to clarify this
question.Inalaterosteologicalanalysis
of the subadults from the1926 excava
tionofKastraki, IngvarssonSundstrm
(2008)foundanexceptionallyhighneo
natal mortality and a poor growth of
children, thus confirmingAngels gen
eral interpretation of severe health
problems at Asine. The analysis indi
cated intermittent periods ofmalnutri
tion and disease during childhood
which couldhavebeen linked to feed
ingpractices,suchasearlysupplemen
tationwithotherfoodsthanbreastmilk.
A reexamination of the skeletons
from the EastCemetery and Barbouna
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A.INGVARSSONSUNDSTRMetal4
was carried out by A. Ingvarsson
SundstrmasapartoftheMiddleHel
ladicArgolidProject,whoseothermain
objectivewas to reexamineMHpopulations with modern osteological and
chemical methods (Voutsaki, 2005;
Voutsaki et al., 2004; 2005; 2006; 2007).The aim of the stable isotope analysis
was toexaminewhether theAsinediet
waspoor inanimalprotein,and ifdif
ferencesexistedbetweenthetwoceme
teriesand/orbetweensexes.Itwasalso
the intention that the stable isotopes
would clarify the question of breast
feeding customs and shed light on the
durationofbreast feedingandatwhat
ageotherfoodswereintroduced.
MATERIALANDMETHODS
A totalof38bone sampleswere se
lected from the 41 osteologically re
examinedskeletonsfromBarbounaand
theEastCemetery;14samplesfromthe
17 individuals from Barbouna, and 24
samples from the 24 individuals from
the East Cemetery. Not all skeletons
from the Barbouna cemetery couldbe
sampledbecauseof thepoorpreserva
tion of three skeletons (two neonates
andajuvenile/adult).Ribswereselected
foranalysisifpossible,butsinceskeletal
preservationwasgenerallypooratboth
cemeteries, other bones occasionally
had tobe selected as an alternative to
ribs.The age and sex of all individuals
had previously been determined
through standardosteologicalmethods
(Buikstra and Ubelaker, 1994). The
skeletal samplesbelong to individuals
of both sexes and ages ranging from
newborntooldadulthood(+50yearsof
age).Collagen was extracted from the
bone samples following a modified
Longin (1971) method (Richards and
Hedges, 1999)with the addition of an
ultrafiltration step (Brown et al., 1988).Collagenextractionandsubsequentiso
tope measurements weremade at the
Department ofHumanEvolution,Max
Planck Institute for Evolutionary An
thropology, Leipzig, Germany. Of the
38 samples initially selected, only 19
samples provided enough well
preservedcollagen foranalysis (6of14
from Barbouna and 13 of 24 from the
East cemetery) (Table 1). The other 19samples either had too little collagen
preservedorproducedapoorC:Nratio.
FollowingDeNiro (1985) only samples
withaC:Nratiobetween2.9 3.6were
considered for analysis. It has been
shown that samples outside this rangecouldhavebeenaffectedbypostmortemchanges which may cause unreliable
indicationsoftheindividualsdiets.Un
fortunately, itwas impossible toexam
inepossiblechronologicaldifferencesin
diet within the Asine community be
cause of the small sample size. To de
termine the relative importance of ani
mal vs. plants, the isotope values de
rived from bone samples from herbi
vore and omnivore animals from the
nearby and contemporaneous site of
Lerna have been used as references
(Triantaphyllouetal.,2008).
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STABLEISOTOPEANALYSISOFTHEMIDDLEHELLADICPOPULATION 5
Table1:StablecarbonandnitrogenisotopevaluesforskeletonsfromEastCemeteryandBarbouna
atAsine(Neonate=01year;Child=612years;Juvenile=1218years;Adult+18years;YA=Young
Adult,1830years;PA=PrimeAdult,3040years;MA=MatureAdult,4050years,OA=Oldadult,
+50
years).
SkeletonNo. Cemetery Age Sex 13C() 15N() C:Nratio
44AS East Adult ? 20.6 9.3 3.6
45AS East MA M 19.8 8.5 3.2
47AS East Child ? 18.7 10.7 3.3
48AS East YA M 19.2 9.7 3.2
51AS East Juvenile ? 19.2 9.2 3.2
53AS East OA F 19.0 8.7 3.2
54AS East Adult M 19.1 9.3 3.2
55AS East Juvenile ? 19.1 9.8 3.2
56AS East PA F 19.1 10.3 3.2
60AS East YA M 19.1 7.9 3.3
61AS East PA F 19.8 9.6 3.2
62AS East Child ? 18.9 8.9 3.3
64AS East Adult ? 19.0 9.4 3.2
93aAS Barbouna Neonate ? 19.3 9.2 3.3
105AS Barbouna Neonate ? 18.2 10.2 3.2
106AS Barbouna Neonate ? 19.0 10.7 3.5
109AS Barbouna Neonate ? 18.9 10.2 3.3
112AS? Barbouna Neonate ? 18.4 10.2 3.1
89.324 Barbouna YA/PA M 19.3 8.3 3.3
RESULTSANDDISCUSSION
Thedietarypatternofadultsandju
venilesatAsineshowsaheavyreliance
onmainlyterrestrialfoods;i.e.C3plants
with a varying amount of animal pro
tein(Fig.1).Thereisnovisibleadditionof marine foods (which is surprising,
considering thatAsine is located on a
promontory); in this case higher 15N
and 13C valueswould havebeen ob
served.Thefactthatveryfewfishbones
havebeenfoundintheanimalboneas
semblage (KatrinMoberg,personal communication)seemstosupporttheresultsofthestableisotopeanalysisbutitmust
be emphasised that the sparse fish re
mainsmaywellbe an effectof the re
coverymethodsused;handcollectionof
bones (which was practised at Asine)
typically produce few fish remains
whereaswaterflotationandwatersiev
ingusually increase thenumberof fish
bonesaswellas thenumberofspecies
(Mylona,2003).Furthermore, thepossibilitythatlowamountsofmarinefoods
ofa lowtrophic levelwere indeedcon
sumed,butnotdetectedwiththemeth
ods of the present analysis should not
beexcluded(Milneretal.,2004;Hedges,2004;cf.RichardsandSchulting,2006).
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A.INGVARSSONSUNDSTRMetal6
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
-22.0 -21.5 -21.0 -20.5 -20.0 -19.5 -19.0 -18.5 -18.0
13C
15N
neonate
child
juvenile
adult
Lerna sheep/goat
Lerna cattl e
Lerna pig
Lerna red deer
Fig.1:Plotofbonecollagen13Cand15NofindividualsfromAsineandanimalsfromLerna
(meansandstandarddeviations).
Also, there is no evidence that C4
plantssuchasmillet,oranimalsfedon
C4plantswerepartofthedietinAsine.
AscanbeseeninFigure1,itisneverthe
less likely that amajority of the individuals consumed large amounts of
animalprotein.Astudyofanimalbones
from terrace III atKastraki shows that
cattleandpigsplayedasignificantrole
in theAsineeconomy,whilesheepand
goatswerealsoabundant(MobergNils
son,1996).
The nitrogen isotope levels, how
ever,mustbe interpretedwith caution
since thereareother causesbesides in
gestionofanimalproteinthatmayraise
human nitrogen levels. For instance, it
hasbeenshownthathumanworkingof
the soilmaydisturb thedelicatenitro
gen cyclebetween plants and soil and
maycausesignificantlyraisedvaluesin
both(VanKlinkenetal.,2000).Inaddition, the use of animal manure raises
thesoilnitrogenlevelconsiderablyand
this could affect the human nitrogen
valuesthroughthefoodchain(Bogaard
etal.,2007;HedgesandReynard,2007).Even if these effectsmay, to some ex
tent,be checkedby analyses of plants
and animals, archaeobotanical remainsareseldomavailable.Therearealso in
dications that periodical nutritional
stresscanincreasehumannitrogen lev
els,meaning thatnotonlydietbutalso
the individuals nitrogen balance can
affectthe 15Nvalues(Fulleretal.,2005).However, it isunlikely that thiswould
show up in bone collagen, which is
formedoverlongtimeperiods.
Yet,thevaryingstableisotopelevels
atAsine areby nomeans exceptional.
On thecontrary, thestable isotopeval
uesatAsineagreewellwiththoseseen
at other Greek Bronze age sites (e.g.
Lerna,MycenaeandArmenoionCrete)
(Fig.2).ThemajorityoftheAsinepopulationarecomparabletotheindividuals
having high nitrogen values and less
negativecarbonvalues. If thecompari
son is extended to the lavishly fur
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STABLEISOTOPEANALYSISOFTHEMIDDLEHELLADICPOPULATION 7
nishedburialsfromtheMycenaeGrave
Circles, it is interesting tonote that the
Asinepopulation fits fairlywellwithin
the section of values that overlap be
tween the other Bronze Age popula
tions and the elite graves atMycenae
(Grave Circle A, n=9; Grave Circle B,
n=6;chambertombs,n=11)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
-20 -19.8 -19.6 -19.4 -19.2 -19 -18.8 -18.6 -18.4
13C
15N
Asine
Myc cht
Myc B
Myc A
Arm
Ler
Fig.2:
Stable
carbon
and
nitrogen
isotope
mean
values
from
Asine
in
comparison
to
other
Bronze
Agepopulations.Mycenae:GravecircleA(=MycA),GravecircleB(=MycB),chambertombs(=Myc
cht),Lerna(=Ler)andArmenoi(=Arm)[Crete].
Turningnow toa closer look at the
sexspecificstable isotoperesultsof the
EastCemetery (Fig. 3): Since there areonly three women represented in this
sample,and two individuals couldnot
bedeterminedastosex,anyinterpreta
tion ofdietarydifferencesbetween thesexes will necessarily be speculative.
However, thematerial at hand shows
that the femalemeannitrogenvalue is
higher than the male value, possibly
indicating that females at the East
Cemetery hadmore animal protein in
theirdietthanmen.Ontheotherhand,
thedifference isnotstatisticallysignifi
cant,anditisperhapsmorelikelythatit
is an effect of small sample size and
quite large individual variation. It is
nevertheless interesting tonoteat least
one casewhere a differentburial type
and high nitrogen value coincide: Thehighest nitrogen values of this sample
belong to the female and the juvenile
buried inoneof the twopithos(storagejar)gravesofthecemetery(Grave1971
7)(Dietz,1980): 15N=10.3and9.8
respectively.
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A.INGVARSSONSUNDSTRMetal8
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
-21 -20.5 -20 -19.5 -19 -18.5
13C
15N
Female
Male
Sex
unknown
Juvenile
Female mean: 13C = -19.3 ( 0.4), 15N= 9.5 ( 0.8)
Male mean: 13C = -19.3 ( 0.3), 15N= 8.7 ( 0.7)
Adult mean: 13C = -19.4 ( 0.3), 15N= 9.1 ( 0.7)
Barbouna
Fig.3:PlotofnitrogenandcarbonisotopevaluesfromadultsandjuvenilesattheEastcemetery
(n=11)andBarbouna(n=1).Circled=individualsfrompithosgrave19717;meanswith1SD.
Unfortunately, thesamples from the
secondpithos (grave 197115), contain
ing twoadultsdidnotgiveanyresults
because the bones did not contain
enough collagen for analysis. ThemajorityofthegravesoftheEastCemetery
werecists.Whilesmallerjarswerequite
frequently used forburials of children
during the MH period, the burial of
adultsin(larger)storagejarsisnotthat
common, although parallels are found
in neighbouring Argos, as well as in
other regions of the southern Greek
mainland(Nordquist,1987;Dietz,1980).
Nordquist
has
suggested
that
the
pres
ence of this grave type for adult use
couldhavebeenaresultofmarriages
between different elite family groups
fromthemainland,whereanimmigrat
ing spouse brought his/her traditional
burial customs when moving (into
Asine)(Nordquist,2002).Ifthissugges
tion canbe accepted, it isnotunlikely
that the immigrants also brought
slightly different dietary habits (along
withburialcustoms).Furthermore,two
otherburialscanbesingledoutasspe
cial from the conspicuous grave finds:
grave 197012 inwhich a golddiadem
wasfoundandgrave19713containinga largenumberofvases,abronzedag
ger and a limestone pommel (Dietz,
1980).Theinhabitantsofthesegraves,a
manandanindividualofunknownsex
also had quite high nitrogen values
(15N = 9.3 ) possibly suggesting a
diet rich in animal protein. However,
highnitrogen levelsarenotonlyfound
among the individuals buried with
elaborate
grave
goods:
the
highest
val
ues are found in those individuals
whosegraveswereemptyoffinds.Pos
sible differences between the popula
tions of the two cemeteries (East and
Barbouna) could not be verified since
only one adult from Barbouna pro
duced any results in the stable isotope
analysis.
Asalreadymentioned,stableisotope
analysishasalsobeenused toestimate
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STABLEISOTOPEANALYSISOFTHEMIDDLEHELLADICPOPULATION 9
how long childrenwerebreastfed and
the timeof introductionof solid foods.
In exclusivelybreastfed infants the ex
pectednitrogenenrichmentisaround3 (Katzenberg et al., 1996). Whenweaningstarts,thenitrogenlevelofthe
childwillgraduallydeclinetotheadult
valueprovidedthatadultandchildeat
the same typeof food. It isnotknown
exactlyhowlongittakesfortheisotopic
signalofbreastmilk toreach thebones
of a neonate, but a recent study has
shown that this processmaybe fairly
rapid;elevatedvalueshavebeenfound
in very young children (only a few
weeks old) when compared to foetal
values(Richardsetal.,2002).
The interpretation of breastfeeding
customsinAsineisseverelyhamperedby
thesmallsamplesizeofchildren,andthe
lackofchildrenbetween15yearsofage.In this sampleall except twoolder chil
dren are younger than one year of age.
Furthermore, there areno stable isotope
results for the Barbouna females,which
impliedthattheBarbounachildrenhadto
becomparedto the3femalesoftheEast
Cemetery.Still,apreliminary interpreta
tion of thedata athand shows that the
childrens 15N values are significantly
enriched compared to the adults of the
sample,butthereisnostatisticallysignifi
cant differencebetween the female and
subadultmeans(Fig.4).
Female
mean
Adult
mean
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Age (years)
15N
>
Fig.4:NitrogenisotopevaluesofchildrenfromBarbounaandtheEastCemeteryincomparisonto
femaleandadultaveragenitrogenvalues(minimumandmaximumvaluesareindicatedforthefe
maleandadultsamples).
In fact, the childrens mean 15N
valueislowerthanexpectedforbreast
fed children, since it is only 0.5
higherthanthefemalemeanand1.1
higher than the general adult mean
(whereas the normal increase would
havebeen23).Interestingly,arecent
studyofstable isotopevalues from fin
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A.INGVARSSONSUNDSTRMetal10
gernail clippings of modern children
showed that children receiving breast
milkandinfantformula(basedoncows
milk)demonstratea lowernitrogen increase (11.4 ) compared to fully
breastfed children (Fuller et al., 2006).Thisdifferencesappliedalsotothecar
bon values (0.5 instead of c. 1 iffullybreastfed).Thelowincreaseofthe
nitrogenandcarbonvaluesmirrors the
low enrichment seen among theAsine
childrenwhichareyoungerthan1year
ofage.Itisalsopossible,however,that
these isotope values reflect a combina
tionofbreastfeedingandfoetaldiets.
Whendiscussingweaningage, it is
alsorelevanttoconsiderothertypesof
evidence such as data on subadult
mortality: the osteological data from
Asine indicate a high mortality of
childrenlessthan1yearofage.Inthe
Barbouna cemetery 8 of the 17 indi
viduals were children in this age
group. It iswellknown thatearly in
troduction of other nutrients thanbreastmilk is potentially risky under
poor hygienic circumstances, since it
mayexpose thechildren topathogens
and nutritional stress (King and Uli
jaszek,1999).Thus, thesynergisticef
fect of infections and early supple
mentation is associated with high
mortality during the first year.Natu
rally, the possibility that the diet of
children dying at an early age may
have been different from that of
healthychildrenshouldnotbeforgot
ten. A stable isotope study of teeth
fromadultscouldpossiblyclarifythis
question.Whetherthelowenrichment
in the childrens nitrogen and carbon
valuesindicatesthatabreastmilkdiet
was supplemented with other nutri
ents(suchasforinstanceanimalmilk)
has to remain an open question be
causeof the limitationsof the sample
sizealreadymentioned.Itisneverthe
less very likely that dairy products
formed an important part of the dietatAsine:astudyofanimalbonesfrom
terrace III atKastraki showed a high
slaughterageof thedomesticanimals
usuallyconsistentwithautilizationof
secondaryproducts,suchasmilkand
wool(MobergNilsson,1996).
CONCLUSIONS
The stable isotope analysis of the
skeletons from Asine shows that thedietoftheAsinepopulationwassimilar
tothatofotherGreekBronzeAgepopu
lations: therewas a heavy reliance on
terrestrial foods,namelyC3plantswith
a varying amount of animal protein
frommeatanddairyproducts.Thereis
no indication that sizeable amounts of
marinefoodswereconsumed,andthere
areno signsofeitherdirector indirect
ingestion of C4 plants such as millet.
Someadultsat theEastCemeteryseem
to have had a lot of animal protein in
their diet, and in this respect they are
comparable to the individuals from the
GraveCirclesatMycenae.
A limitationof thecurrentstudy is
however themodest number of indi
viduals, the low number of sexed
adult individuals and the absence of
individualsincertainagegroups.The
questionofweaningageof theAsinechildren is thus problematic. How
ever, there are indications that some
children received early supplementa
tion, possibly in the form of animal
milk. In thiscase theymayhavebeen
exposed to harmful pathogenswhich
couldhavebeen a contributory cause
tothehighmortalityofchildrenbelow
1yearofage.
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STABLEISOTOPEANALYSISOFTHEMIDDLEHELLADICPOPULATION 11
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thestable isotopesanalysiswascarriedoutasapartof theMiddleHelladicArgolidProject, which is financed by the Netherlands Organisation of Scientific Research(NWO), theUniversityofGroningen.Theosteologicalanalysisof theAsineskeletons
hasbeenfundedbytwoResearchGrantsfromtheInstituteofAegeanPrehistory(2005
and 2006), TheWiener Laboratory (ASCSA) (2005) and additional subsidiesby the
Swedish Research Council (20072008), Gsta Enboms Foundation (2005) and SAU
researchfoundation(2005).WewouldliketoexpressourthankstoMrsAnnaBanaka,
Headofthe4thEphorateofPrehistoricandClassicalAntiquities,andtotheDepartment
ofConservation,MinistryofCultureforgrantingusapermittoexamineandsamplethe
humanskeletonsfromAsine.WewouldalsoliketothanktheSwedishInstituteaswell
asProf.G.Nordquist,Prof.C.G.StyreniusandProf.R.Hggforgivinguspermissionto
studyandtakesamplesfromtheAsineskeletons.WearegratefultoDr.S.Triantaphyl
louforhelpduringsamplingproceduresin theNauplionMuseum.Finally,wewouldlike toacknowledge theassistancewehavereceived from theguardsat theNauplion
Museum.
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