Exploring mobility in Italian Neolithic and Copper Age communities

www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN Exploring mobility in Italian Neolithic and Copper Age communities Flavio De Angelis1,19*, Maura Pellegrini2,3,19*, Cristina Martínez‑Labarga 1, Laura Anzivino1, Gabriele Scorrano1,18, Mauro Brilli4, Francesca Giustini4, Micaela Angle5, Mauro Calattini7, Giovanni Carboni8, Paola Catalano6, Emanuela Ceccaroni9, Serena Cosentino10, Stefania Di Giannantonio6, Ilaria Isola11, Fabio Martini12, Elsa Pacciani13, Francesca Radina14, Mario Federico Rolfo15, Mara Silvestrini16, Nicoletta Volante7, Giovanni Zanchetta17, Lucia Sarti7 & Olga Rickards 1 As a means for investigating human mobility during late the Neolithic to the Copper Age in central and southern Italy, this study presents a novel dataset of enamel oxygen and carbon isotope values (δ18Oca and δ13Cca) from the carbonate fraction of biogenic apatite for one hundred and twenty-six individual teeth coming from two Neolithic and eight Copper Age communities. The measured δ18Oca values suggest a significant role of local sources in the water inputs to the body water, whereas δ13Cca values indicate food resources, principally based on C3 plants. Both δ13Cca and δ18Oca ranges vary substantially when samples are broken down into local populations. Statistically defined thresholds, accounting for intra-site variability, allow the identification of only a few outliers in the eight Copper Age communities, suggesting that sedentary lifestyle rather than extensive mobility characterized the investigated populations. This seems to be also typical of the two studied Neolithic communities. Overall, this research shows that the investigated periods in peninsular Italy differed in mobility pattern from the following Bronze Age communities from more northern areas. The complex interweaving of cultures associated with human mobility has traditionally represented a jigsaw puzzle for our understanding of the biological, cultural, and social evolution of past populations1. Unfortunately, population dynamics and mobility cannot easily be inferred from the archaeological record a lone2 since the simple act of people moving from one place to another does not necessarily leave behind archaeological traces3. 1 Centre of Molecular Anthropology for Ancient DNA Studies; Department of Biology, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Rome, Italy. 2Thermo Fisher Scientific, Strada Rivoltana 4, 20053 Rodano, MI, Italy. 3Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX13QY, UK. 4Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria (IGAG), CNR, Area della Ricerca di Roma RM1. Via Salaria km 29,300, Monterotondo Stazione, 00015 Rome, Italy. 5Istituto Autonomo Villa Adriana e Villa d’Este, Piazza Trento, 5, 00019 Tivoli, RM, Italy. 6Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Roma, Piazza dei Cinquecento, 67, 00185 Rome, Italy. 7Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche e dei Beni Culturali, Siena University, Via Roma 56, 53100 Siena, Italy. 8Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, Italy. 9Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio dell’Abruzzo, Via degli Agostiniani 14, 66100 Chieti, Italy. 10Collaborator of Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio dell’Abruzzo, Via degli Agostiniani 14, 66100 Chieti, Italy. 11Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Pisa, Via Cesare Battisti, 53, 56125 Pisa, Italy. 12Dipartimento di Storia, Archeologia, Geografia, Arte e Spettacolo, Florence University, Via S. Egidio 21, 50122 Florence, Italy. 13Former Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Firenze, Pistoia e Prato, Florence, Italy. 14Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio per la Città Metropolitana di Bari, Via Pier l’Eremita, 25, 70122 Bari, Italy. 15Dipartimento di Storia, Patrimonio culturale, Formazione e Società, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Via Columbia 1, 00133 Rome, Italy. 16Former Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici delle Marche, Via Birarelli 18, 60100 Ancona, Italy. 17Dipartimento di Scienze Della Terra and Centro Interdipartimentale per lo studio dell’Impatto dei Cambiamenti Climatici (CIRSEC), University of Pisa, Via S. Maria 53, 56126 Pisa, Italy. 18Present address: Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5‑7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. 19These authors contributed equally: De Angelis Flavio and Pellegrini Maura. *email: ; Scientific Reports | (2021) 11:2697 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-81656-z 1 Vol.:(0123456789) www.nature.com/scientificreports/ Site (province) Code Date Analyzed samples Estimated individuals Mora Cavorso (Rome) MC 6275 ± 45 BP ÷ 6405 ± 35BP 9 28 Galliano-Palagiano (Taranto) PA 5642 ± 50 BP ÷ 5448 ± 50 BP 9 9 Grotta Nisco (Bari) GN 4723 ± 50 BP ÷ 4674 ± 50 BP 7 19 Celano Pratovecchio (L’Aquila) CE Not available 3 3 Fontenoce di Recanati (Macerata) FR 4882 ± 62 BP ÷ 4478 ± 68 BP 18 32 Buca di Spaccasasso (Grosseto) SS 4831 ± 50 BP ÷ 3506 ± 55BP 50 61 Casetta Mistici (Rome) CM 4797 ± 45 BP ÷ 4240 ± 50 BP 7 15 Torre della Chiesaccia (Rome) TC 4129 ± 45 BP 4 10 Osteria del Curato-Via Cinquefrondi (Rome) OC 4865 ± 60 BP ÷ 3740 ± 70 BP 16 35 Pantano Borghese (Rome) PB 4129 ± 45BP ÷ 3909 ± 55 BP 3 14 Table 1.  Radiocarbon dates and sample size of the sites. The dates reported are referred to as the maximum time range so far obtained for the sites. Even though mobility could have been a critical element of foragers’ strategies for resource e xploitation4,5, it could also underlie other fundamental factors, such as social complexity and population dynamics. The transition between the Neolithic and the Copper Age (dating around 4th millennium BCE in Italy) marked a tipping point for many aspects of peoples’ lifestyles. This transition was accompanied by changes in settlement structures, subsistence strategies, cultural assemblages, and mortuary p ractices6–8. Farming technologies were refined, and metallic ores such as copper started to be mined and used to produce artefacts in the Copper Age. The introduction of metal processing in the Copper Age led to a significant increase in the commercial t rade9 and was complemented by the onset of a complex trade network associated with the movement of people9–13. Archaeological evidence of goods movements can be integrated with the information retained in the human skeletons. Carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of bone collagen for dietary reconstruction can provide information on subsistence strategies in human populations, though only rarely shifts in dietary habits have been used to support hypothesis concerning human mobility14–16. This is mainly associated with issues of collagen turnover and renewal in living organisms. Conversely, tooth enamel forms during the first years of life, becomes biologically i (...truncated)