Alimentazione e demografia nelle società pre-protostoriche con economia produttiva dell’Italia centro-meridionale

The analysis of the carrying capacity of a specifc area exploited by a community can provide a general framework on the food provision supplied by various sources, in relation to subsistence techniques adopted by that community, to the demographic dimension of the population involved, to the collective commitment required producing it and to the amplitude of the same area exploited for different activities. It is not particularly diffcult to determine the proportions of the different species used within each category (animal and plant), however, to estimate the nutritional relationship between the contributions provided by the two types of source (animal vs. plant) is generally complex. This paper attempts to highlight issues related to these themes in some case studies of prehistoric and protohistoric Italian contexts and what it implies in terms of interpretation.