Dental Plaque Sheds New Light On the Diet of Mesolithic Foragers in The Balkans

Although researchers agree that Mesolithic diet in the Danube Gorges was largely based on terrestrial, or riverine protein-rich resources, the team also found that starch granules preserved in the dental calculus from Vlasac were consistent with domestic species such as wheat (Triticum monococcum, Triticum dicoccum) and barley (Hordeum distichon), which were also the main crops found among Early Neolithic communities of southeast Europe.

Domestic species were consumed together with other wild species of the Aveneae tribe (oats), Fabaeae tribe (peas and beans) and grasses of the Paniceae tribe.

These preserved starch granules provide the first direct evidence that Neolithic domestic cereals had already reached inland foragers deep in the Balkan hinterland by c. 6600 BC. Their introduction in the Mesolithic societies was likely eased by social networks between local foragers and the first Neolithic communities.

Archaeological starch grains were interpreted using a large collection of microremains from modern plants native to the central Balkans and the Mediterranean region.

“Most of the starch granules that we identified in the Late Mesolithic calculus of the central Balkans are consistent with plants that became key staple domestic foods with the start of the Neolithic in this region” said Cristiani.

Anita Radini, University of York added, “In the central Balkans, foragers’ familiarity with domestic Cerealia grasses from c. 6500 BC, if not earlier, might have eased the later quick adoption of agricultural practices.”

The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Contacts and sources:
Emanuela Cristiani