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In this paper, dietary patterns are reconstructed across two phases represented at the Copper Age of Scaba ’e Arriu (Sardinia, Italy) via isotopic analysis of human and animal skeletal remains. Collagen carbon, nitrogen, and bioapatite carbon, and oxygen isotopes were used to infer diet, economic practices, and possibly different climatic conditions. Differential management of cattle, sheep/goats, and pigs was detected, with scarce animal products in the human diet in the Early Copper Age, followed by an increase in animal products identifiable in herbivore livestock, coincident with more rainy conditions in the Late Copper Age. Dietary information was then considered in light of the climatic periods already known for the period and compatible with the data presented. The study’s outcome indicates generally sedentary and endogamous groups with only a few outliers in both phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Radiocarbon and U-series methods (230Th/U and 231Pa/235U) for absolute age determination have been applied to some fossil samples from Grotta Juntu, in North Eastern Sardinia (Italy). The remains belong to the endemic deer species Praemegaceros cazioti, which is here represented by an almost complete skeleton. The three dating methods lead to concordant ages of about 7500years BP, indicating that the skeleton was maintained as closed system after burial. Taking into consideration these results, Praemegaceros cazioti from Grotta Juntu is now the youngest representative of this species in Sardinia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Monti 'e Prama site, made famous by the discovery of numerous large stone statues "The Monti 'e Prama giants", is a necropolis located in Sardinia, dated to the X - IX BC. The statues, all depicting men: archers, boxers and fencers, were found collapsed and fragmented, in the immediate vicinity of the burials. The sample of inhumated skeletons consists of 41 individuals, almost all males, who died when adolescents, young adults or, more rarely, mature. Neither children nor elders were present. An interesting question is whether the statues depicted the deceased or could have come from a temple located elsewhere. In this regard, the diagnosis of the age at death is an element of considerable importance, but the skeletal age is difficult to determine in this sample because of the bad state of preservation of the bones, while the teeth are well preserved and have allowed us to reconstruct a seriation in order to seniority on the basis of wear. Since tooth wear is a weak indicator of age, we also used a method based on the deposition of secondary dentine, by the pulp area/tooth area ratio calculation, which gets a greater precision. It was found that the correlation between the degree of wear and pulp area/tooth area ratio is somewhat low, indicating that the two processes, although both age-dependent, do not have a very similar trend. It was also noted that the method of pulp area / tooth area ratio tends to "make the individuals grow old" in cases of discrepancy, but in general confirms the young age of many adults and the absence of the elderly. In this sense, it confirms even the possibility of an association between the deceased and the statues of young athletes or warriors. The results of pulp area/tooth area ratio method, by moving the sample as a whole to ages slightly more advanced than those suggested by wear, offers the hypothesis that the community was characterized by alimentary habits involving a little wearing mastication activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]