Human diet in Mantua (Northern Italy): isotopic data on local communities dated from Copper Age to Middle Bronze Age

Abstract

The Copper to Middle Bronze Ages are particularly significant times in Italian Protohistory, as they were marked by major dietary, social, and technological transformations. Stable isotope analysis has become a key tool in reconstructing past human diets. Although its application has expanded across the Italian Peninsula over the past decade, data for the Copper Age in northern Italy remain limited, and geographic coverage is still uneven. This study presents new isotopic evidence on 11 faunal specimens, and 101 humans from the province of Mantua (Lombardy), a region with a dense concentration of funerary contexts dating from the Copper Age to the Middle Bronze Age. The results reveal a consistent dietary pattern across the periods investigated, with protein intake derived predominantly from terrestrial animal sources and C₃ plants; no significant dietary differences were observed between sexes or age groups. The dietary continuity observed across nearly a millennium suggests that, despite broader socio-economic changes documented in the archaeological record, subsistence strategies in this region remained stable. The dietary homogeneity observed among buried individuals suggests consistent dietary practices within the funerary population. This study provides one of the first isotopic datasets from Northern Italy for the Copper Age and offers a new perspective on subsistence strategies in protohistoric Lombardy.