Herding practices in the ditched villages of the Neolithic Tavoliere (Apulia, SE Italy): a vicious circle? The isotopic evidence.

Southeastern Italy is a crucial area for understanding the Neolithic in the Mediterranean. With numerous sites excavated, some of which provide sound chronological information, the Adriatic coast is probably one of the best-studied area in the Peninsula - a key region for the analysis and interpretation of Neolithic practices. In the Apulian Tavoliere, a large plain south of the Gargano promontory, Early and Middle Neolithic villages are characterised by circular ditches, which enclose dwellings associated with early farming communities. Through the integration of isotopic data we try to explore the Neolithic social landscape to find that this interconnected cultural system shows a great level of complexity, especially in the economic strategies of the groups investigated. Our stable carbon and nitrogen isotope investigations of human and animal samples from sites in the plain suggest that some of our beliefs on social and cultural strategies in the Italian Neolithic must be reconsidered. Some sites that are only a short distance from one another show different isotopic signatures within a largely homogenous environment (e.g. Grotta Scaloria vs Masseria Candelaro and Passo di Corvo). We speculate that such differences may be linked to farming and herding practices which involved the use of animal manure.