Sheep and goat management practices at Perdigões (Southern Portugal, 4 millennium BC) via sequential carbon and oxygen isotopic analyses of tooth enamel

Abstract

The archaeological site of Perdigões (Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal) was a centre of social and ceremonial importance with diverse funeral traditions from the middle 4th to the 3rd millennium BC. Previous strontium isotope analysis of human remains indicates that these funerary contexts contained individuals from a wide catchment area. Together with artefactual evidence, it suggests Perdigões was a part of a large interaction network of settlements that may have spanned Iberia, Northern Africa, and the Central Mediterranean. The stable isotopic analysis of domesticated animals’ bones and teeth can provide insights into human behaviour via the choices connected to animal pasture and foddering regimes. Sheep and goats were pivotal species for Neolithic and Bronze Age communities in Iberia, and the herding strategies of individual flocks would have been dependent on local vegetation and geography as well as production strategies. Here we present a detailed and comprehensive picture of husbandry practices of sheep/goat remains found at Perdigões, using stable isotopic values from suids and deer as a baseline for the local environment. The incremental stable δ13C and δ18O isotopic results from sheep/goat molars provide insight into seasonal variations in pasture and foddering practices, thereby shedding light on human management strategies. Differences between individuals may suggest that sampled sheep/goats individuals did not come from a single flock. The results reinforce the argument that Perdigões was a central place of significance, attracting communities and their herds both within the vicinity of the site and also further afield.