Milk production in pottery. Evidence for various exploited resources used by the first farmers in Central Pyrenees using the morphological, chemical and stable carbon isotopic composition of organic residues from ceramic vessels

Abstract

From the second part of the 6th millennium BC onwards, pottery manufacture is attested throughout the western Mediterranean. The study of the functional and use of vessels has become a valuable source of information on the culinary patterns and subsistence practices of past societies. In the present study, we have analyzed the organic residues of a total of 37 ceramic vessels from the first Neolithic settlements in the Central Pyrenees. Results from lipid analysis using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and GC-stable carbon isotope ratio analyses (GC-IRMS) revealed that from the earliest phases, the use of pottery was related to the exploitation of dairy and meat products, as well as plant resources. The data obtained are contextualized within the general frame of the Pyrenees and the western Mediterranean.