Diet and affinity from the middle neolithic to early bronze age, Estremadura, Portugal: a comparison of human dental remains from Feteira II and Bolores

Abstract

The social and political changes accompanying the transition from the Neolithic through Early Bronze Age in southwestern Iberia are reasonably well understood; much less is known about population movements and dietary changes that accompanied these transformations. To address possible population movements and dietary change, human dental remains from the Middle Neolithic through Late Neolithic site of Feteira II (3600-2900 B.C.E) and the Late Neolithic through the Early Bronze Age site of Bolores (2800-1800 B.C.E) will be used to examine diet and affinity. Two hypotheses are tested: the period of social change was associated with dietary change between individuals interred at Feteira II and Bolores and groups interred at these sites are significantly different when observing non-metric dental traits. Microwear features were not significantly different between Feteira II and Bolores, lending evidence that the period of increasing social complexity and long distance interaction did not result in large-scale change in subsistence practices between groups interred at these sites. The investigation of biological distance observing dental morphology between sites determined that they were similar, meaning there was no evidence for population replacement between individuals interred at Feteira II and Bolores.