Specialization in Sheep Farming, a Possible Strategy for Neolithic Communities in the Adriatic to Expand Throughout the Mediterranean
Published:27 Jul.2023 Source:Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
The spread of agriculture in the central and western Mediterranean took place rapidly. The first peasants, coming from the Adriatic, spread westwards across the Mediterranean to the Iberian Peninsula approximately 8000 years ago. The study of these societies provides insight into how they organized and expanded. It is known that they had an economy based on cereal agriculture and sheep and goat farming, but there is little information on how this agropastoral system worked.
The study now published investigated pastoral practices and the use of animal products in the Eastern Adriatic region, specifically in the Dalmatian sites of Tinj-Podlivade and Crno Vrilo. Researchers demonstrate that the early farmers at both sites specialized in sheep farming -- and not sheep and goats as previously thought -- with early pastoral practices and the use of products such as milk and meat from these ruminants. The results suggest that there was a common animal economy at both sites, which could be related to the mobility practiced by these early agricultural societies throughout the Mediterranean.
The rapid spread across the central and western Mediterranean probably occurred by sea, according to archaeological records found on different islands. For the first time, the research combined zooarchaeology, palaeoproteomics and stable isotopes to demonstrate the main composition of the herds and their management.