Differences, before and after the grave, in Neolithic southeastern Italy

Diversity and flexibility in Neolithic approaches to food gathering and growing, marking the landscape, composing kin, and disposing of the dead, have long been observed. It has even been proposed that Neolithic lives were founded on a politics of difference, in contrast to the increasingly culturally restricted and codified expressions of social differentiation from the Copper Age onwards. Small scale tribal communities in Neolithic Europe were probably oriented around a fluctuating system of collective action; while certain individuals may have occasionally gained esteem or prestige, the evidence from lifeways and burials is remarkably quiet on this front. We track the dynamics of Neolithic lives and deaths in southern Italy by combining bioarchaeological analysis, bulk and incremental isotopic data on lifetime movements and diet, with funerary and histotaphonomic data on post-mortem treatment. People living on the Apulian Tavoliere during the early to middle Neolithic experienced frequent, short-term shifts in dietary composition as well as mobility. At the same time, funerary traditions were remarkably local and yet varied even within a single site. Incorporating published isotopic and burial data reveals only further heterogeneity, suggesting flexible approaches to subsistence based on the local climate and environment, and slow but consistent change in funerary practices. In the 6th-5th millennium BC in southern Italy, lives (before and after the grave) resisted rigid pathways.