Inferring social dynamics of Italian Copper Age communities by stable isotopes analyses: preliminary results from central and southern Italy

The Copper Age in Italy (4000-2300 BCE) is represented mostly by funerary contexts, with many cultural practices still under debate. The funerary ritual is expressed by burials in artificial or natural hypogea, often used for collective burials over a long period, as witnessed by secondary depositions and radiocarbon dates. Grave goods are scarce if related to the number of inhumed, suggesting a specific socio-cultural relation within individuals of the same funerary structure, but our understanding of daily life is influenced by the ritual aspects of these contexts. Through stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes analysis on bone collagen of 81 humans from 6 necropolises of central and southern Italy we attempt a reconstruction of the dietary practices of Copper Age groups in the region, basing on the assumption that the acquisition, processing and consumption of the edible resources were strictly linked to community organisation. Preliminary data show unexpected dietary similarities within categories that usually reflect socio-cultural distinctions, like the grave goods compositions. Otherwise, variations in the diet within the necropolises are related to the tomb of provenance and, to a lesser extent, to biological aspects (sex and age at death). The observed preservation of dietary habits over centuries, in necropolises of the same area, offer interesting insight into the structure of these communities, and their interaction with the territory. Biomolecular studies suggest the correlation between supposedly independent aspects, such as dietary practices and the ritual world, and indicate to what extent they could address social issues, often barely discernible in prehistoric contexts