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Stable isotope analysis in the reconstruction of human palaeodiets can yield clues to early human subsistence strategies, origins and history of farming and pastoralist societies, and intra- and intergroup social differentiation. In the last 10 years, the method has been extended to the pathological investigation. Stable isotope analysis to better understand a diet-related disease: celiac disease in ancient human bones was carried out. To do this, we analyzed the nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of human (n = 37) and faunal (n = 8) bone remains from the archaeological site of Cosa at Ansedonia, on the Tyrrhenian coast near Orbetello (Tuscany), including the skeletal remains of a young woman (late 1st century-early 2nd century Common Era [CE]) with morphological and genetic features suggestive of celiac disease. We compared the young woman's isotopic data with those of other individuals recovered at the same site but from two later time periods (6th century CE; 11-12th century CE) and with literature data from other Italian archaeological sites dating to the same period. Her collagen δ(13) C and δ(15) N values differed from those of the samples at the same site, and from most but not all of the contemporary sites. Although the woman's diet appears distinct, chronic malnutrition resulting from severe malabsorption of essential nutrients due to celiac disease may have affected the isotopic composition of her bone collagen., (© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

The paper aims to point out the subsistence in Eneolithic Central Italian communities by Stable Isotope Analysis. This period marked a tipping point in the food strategies because it was characterized by economic changes and several technological improvements leading to enhance land exploitation and livestock breeding. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis has been used to analyze the food consumption of 54 people belonging to 5 Eneolithic communities scattered throughout Central Italy, where no data have yet been published. The estimation of the main protein intake has been achieved in order to quantify the differences among these communities. The results are consistent with a diet mainly based on terrestrial resources, with no exclusive marine sources consumption, although their occasional usage cannot be ruled out, especially for selected funerary contexts. The data suggest an overall subsistence based on greater local resource procurement, supported by regional productivity maximization. A roughly homogeneous landscape could be outlined in Tuscany and Marche communities witnessing a shared diet preference that could be modified by local preferences. The fully developed trade routes between the two sides of the Apennines could address the overall dietary homogeneity of the studied communities, especially between Fontenoce di Recanati and the southern Tuscan human groups such as Grotta del Fontino and Buca di Spaccasasso, with lesser influence for Le Lellere and Podere Cucule that seem to suggest a more locally based subsistence, even though the funerary affinities do not match this overall diet homogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]