Article 4
Exploitation of domestic mammals in the eastern Pyrenees during the neolithic. Human dietary patterns at the site of Montou (Corbères-les-Cabanes, France) using bone collagen stable isotopes (d 13 C, d 15 N)
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Abstract. – The neolithisation process is at the origin of many socio-economic and cultural changes in the northwestern Mediterranean since the end of the 7th millennium BC. Within this chronological and cultural framework, we carried out stable isotope analyses on both animal and human bones at the archaeological site of Montou (Corbères-les-Cabanes, Eastern Pyrenees) in order to study the dietary patterns of a human group considered as mobile breeders in these highlands. The results show, among other things, that the main part of human diet proteins derived from terrestrial animal resources, probably from domestic livestock, but in various proportion according to the individuals. No marine and/or freshwater resources were consumed. Moreover, dogs show similar stable isotope values as human and they probably shared the same food resources. Lastly, dietary patterns at Montou seem to be similar to those of other Neolithic populations in Languedoc plain area whatever the type of site.