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Based on the great quality and abundance of archaeological data on the LBK in the Aisne Valley (Paris Basin, France), the study of food practices -faunal remains and cereal processing- revealed economic patterning within the settlements. As regards surplus in these first farmers' houses, the larger ones appear more involved in stockbreeding and cereal consumption, whereas the smaller houses show a slightly stronger contribution of hunting and its by-products, suggesting differences in the economic maturity of households. Expansion of the analysis to networks of know-how for pottery manufacture led to the proposal of a model of village organization marked by the integration of new inhabitants through time. Based on this exceptional context, an isotopic study (C, N S) of human dietary practices was designed to characterize the relationship between humans and their surrounding natural and anthropogenic environments and understand how the socio-cultural structure of can be reflected by dietary choices, at the individual and family levels. To ensure reliability of human isotopic ratios interpretation, a detailed analysis of animal isotopic data was firstly conducted to propose a high-resolution isotopic baseline representative of natural environment and herding management over 200 years (5000-4800 BC). This baseline is elaborated from 205 domestic and wild animal samples, corresponding to 11 taxa, sampled from 9 archaeological sites located east-west along the Aisne Valley, over a distance of about 50 km. In agreement with the geographical setting and taxa, isotopic ratios show expected wide ranges. This high-resolution analysis combining chronological, archaeological and biological criteria will make it possible to identify the impact of environmental and socio-cultural factors involved in the isotopic variability of animal proteins in order to propose and discuss the interest and limitations of a standard local food resource model.
This research is funded by the HOMES project directed by Caroline Hamon (ANR-18-CE27-0011-01).

EAA 2022: Abstract

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