Late Upper Palaeolithic human diet: first stable isotope evidence from Riparo Tagliente (Verona, Italy)

摘要

This article reports results of carbon (13C/12C) and nitrogen (15N/14N) stable isotope analysis performed on the bone collagen of a Late Epigravettian human individual and 11 faunal remains from the Upper Palaeolithic deposits of Riparo Tagliente (Verona, Italy). Riparo Tagliente is located in Valpantena on the pre-alpine massif of Monti Lessini, at 250 m a.s.l. Its strategic position, about halfway from the plain and the top of the limestone plateau, has allowed the groups that occupied the site to exploit different ecosystems. The human skeleton comes from an incomplete burial excavated in 1973 and belongs to a young adult male. It is dated between 16,634 and 15,286 cal BP (OxA-10672). The δ13C (−18.4‰) and δ15N (13.0‰) values of the human individual are enriched compared to those of herbivores on average by +1.2‰ in 13C and +10.0‰ in 15N, and to the omnivores on average by +1.4‰ in 13C and +7.2‰ in 15N. Isotopic values would indicate an origin of proteins from terrestrial herbivores and high trophic level species. These data match with the results of taphonomic analyses carried out on the bone remains of herbivores, while the study of other species as fish is still in progress.