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Abstract Understanding long-term dynamics of past socio-ecological systems is essential for their future management. The southern Atlantic Forest coast of Brazil with its biodiverse littoral zone and artisanal fishing communities, is a priority for conservation. Traditional maritime knowledge is thought to have a deep-history and indeed, marine exploitation can be traced back to the middle Holocene. As part of one of South America’s largest diasporas, Guarani groups reached the southern Brazilian coast at around 1000 years ago. Their impact on the long-standing coastal economy is unknown, due to poor preservation of organic remains. Through the first organic residue study on Guarani pottery, we show that maize rather than aquatic foods was the most dominant product in pottery at this time. By developing a mixing model based on carbon isotope values of saturated and mono-unsaturated fatty acids we propose new criteria for the identification of maize, opening up avenues for future research. Our data confirms the importance of maize to the pre-colonial Guarani, even in a highly productive coastal environment. The Guarani occupation of this region marks a significant departure from previous socio-economic systems, potentially leading to loss of traditional knowledge and alleviating anthropogenic pressure, albeit temporarily, on the marine environment.

The transition to agriculture brought major changes to human populations in Europe during the Neolithic period. Here, Cubas and colleagues analyse lipid residues from Neolithic pottery from along the Atlantic coast of Europe to trace the spread of dairy production and shifts in diet.

Ancient diets have been reconstructed from archaeological pottery based on lipid remains, but these can lack specificity. Here, Hendy and colleagues analyze ancient proteins from ceramic vessels up to 8000 years old to produce a more nuanced understanding of ancient food processing and diet.

Abstract The domestication and transmission of cereals is one of the most fundamental components of early farming, but direct evidence of their use in early culinary practices and economies has remained frustratingly elusive. Using analysis of a well-preserved Early Bronze Age wooden container from Switzerland, we propose novel criteria for the identification of cereal residues. Using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), we identified compounds typically associated with plant products, including a series of phenolic lipids (alkylresorcinols) found only at appreciable concentration in wheat and rye bran. The value of these lipids as cereal grain biomarkers were independently corroborated by the presence of macrobotanical remains embedded in the deposit, and wheat and rye endosperm peptides extracted from residue. These findings demonstrate the utility of a lipid-based biomarker for wheat and rye bran and offer a methodological template for future investigations of wider range of archaeological contexts. Alkylresorcinols provide a new tool for residue analysis which can help explore the spread and exploitation of cereal grains, a fundamental component of the advent and spread of farming.