Diet, dispersal and social differentiation

during the Copper Age in eastern

Research
Hungary
Julia I. G iblin 1 & Richard W. Yerkes2

Why d id the early fa rm in g societies o f south­

east Europe ‘collapse’ a n d become apparently
less complex a t the end o f the Neolithic?
Stable isotope analysis o f hum an bone
collagen from Late Neolithic a n d Copper
Age cemeteries in eastern Hungary provides
new insights into this question by exploring
dietary changes during this key transitional
period. Results show that diet d id not change
significantly over time, a n d there was no
evidence that individuals o f different sex
or social status were consuming privileged
diets. The changes o f this period appear to
indicate a reorganisation o f society, perhaps
based around extended families, w ith greater
dispersal across the landscape, but w ithout ce on dairying or the emergence o f pow erful
leaders.

Keywords: Hungary, Neolithic, Copper Age, diet, stable isotope analysis, carbon, nitrogen

Introduction
Domesticated plants and animals were introduced to the Carpathian Basin c. 6000 cal BC.
This set the stage for farming cultures that built large nucleated villages and tells, produced
diverse forms of pottery and figurines, developed innovative techniques for producing
ornaments and weapons of copper and gold, and maintained complex trade networks.
Some have suggested that the Neolithic groups of south-east Europe (here defined as the
Balkans and the Carpathian Basin) reached a ‘peak of creativity’ between 5000 and 3500
cal BC, followed by a ‘crisis’ or ‘collapse’ during the Copper Age when settlement patterns
became more dispersed, and shrines and symbols less common (Anthony 2010). Scholars
of south-east Europe have explored a range of models to explain the large-scale (although
1 Department o f Sociology, CriminalJustice, and Anthropology, Quinnipiac University, 2 7 5 M ount CarmelAvenue,
Hamden C T 06518-1908, USA (Email: julia.giblin@quinnipiac.edu)
2 Department o f Anthropology, The Ohio State University, 4034 Smith Laboratory, 174 West 18th Avenue,
Columbus O H 43210-1106, USA

© Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2016

ANTIQUITY 90 349 (2016): 81-94 doi: 10.15184/aqy.2016.3
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 Julia I. Giblin dr Richard W. Yerkes

regionally variable) dispersal pattern that occurred at the end of the Neolithic. These include
migration, changes in climate, reorganisation of agricultural systems, conflict and internal
changes in the organisation of social groups (e.g. Gimbutas 1982; Sherratt 1984; Banffy
1994; Whittle 1996; Chapman 1999; Halstead 1999; Tringham 2000; Parkinson 2006;
Keeley et al. 2007; Anthony 2010).
Identifying the processes that contributed to this decrease in social complexity is key
to understanding the long-term consequences of the Neolithic transition in European
prehistory. In this paper, we use the rich archaeological record in eastern Hungary, and
the analytical tool of stable isotope analysis, to evaluate whether diet significantly changed
during the ‘florescence’ of the Late Neolithic and the ‘collapse’ of the Copper Age in eastern
Hungary. We acknowledge that diet is only one component of this complex ecological,
economic and sociocultural transformation, yet we argue that these data shed new light on
aspects of life that changed at the onset of the Copper Age, and, perhaps more importantly,
those that stayed the same.

Archaeological context
In eastern Hungary, the Copper Age transition occurred at the end of the Late Neolithic
period (c. 4500 cal BC), when most of the nucleated tells and villages of the Tisza-
Herpdly-Csdszhalom complexes were gradually abandoned and groups of the Early Copper
Age Tiszapolgar culture established smaller dispersed hamlets in new locations on the
Great Hungarian Plain. Other changes include the re-orientation of trade networks, the
homogenisation of pottery styles and the appearance of communal cemeteries located outside
of settlements (Banffy 1994; Sherratt 1997; Parkinson 2006; Gyucha 2009; Parkinson et al.
2010). It is currently thought that these changes were due to internal processes (rather than
migration) as there is continuity in some aspects of material culture such as settlement
structure and burial treatment (Bognar-Kutzian 1972; Ecsedy 1981; Kalicz 1988; Banffy
1994, 1995; Whittle 1996; Gyucha et al. 2009; Parkinson et al. 2010).
Both domesticated and wild plants and animals were used, but their relative importance
changed from the Late Neolithic to the Early Copper Age. For example, at Late Neolithic
Tisza culture sites (n = 12), domesticated mammals accounted for 58% of faunal
assemblages, with high contributions from wild mammals (42%; calculated from the number
of identified specimens: Bartosiewicz 2005). In the Early Copper Age, the percentage of
wild animals drops to 10% or less at some sites (calculated from the number of identified
specimens: Nicodemus 2003). This increased emphasis on domesticated animals, combined
with the dispersed settlement pattern mentioned above, has led some scholars to suggest
that Early Copper Age groups became agropastoralists (Bokonyi 1988; Banffy 1994, 1995;
Molnar & Siiinegi 2007).
Scholars working in this region have also looked for evidence which shows that climatic
and environmental factors triggered cultural changes during the Neolithic and Copper Age.
Climate, hydrology and vegetation patterns appear to be relatively stable across both time
periods. There is some evidence, however, of human impact on the landscape through
woodland management/clearance and fertilisation (intentionally or unintentionally) from
human and animal waste. Starting in the Neolithic and continuing throughout the Copper
© Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2016

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 Diet, dispersal and social differentiation during the Copper Age in eastern Hungary

Age, this may have opened and transformed the landscape in ways that could have had
both positive and negative implications for these farming communities (Willis et al. 1998;
Nagy-Bodor et al. 2000; Gardner 2002; Siifnegi et al. 2002; Gabris & Nador 2007; Willis
2007; Gyucha et al. 2011; Duffy 2014).

R esearch
A more dispersed settlement pattern, an increased emphasis on domesticated as opposed
to wild animals, and environmental evidence for an opening of the landscape during the
Copper Age point to a possible shift in the subsistence strategy of these populations. Did
the Late Neolithic farmers eventually exhaust their soil and timber resources, resulting
in the ‘collapse’ of tell-based villages? Did animal husbandry increase in importance during
the Copper Age? Or, did an emerging open environment and potentially more productive
agricultural systems allow smaller social units, such as households and extended families,
to establish autonomous and economically viable hamlets? An understanding of the diet of
Late Neolithic and Copper Age cultures is central to evaluating these questions and, at a
larger scale, models for culture change and social organisation in south-east Europe. Stable
isotope biochemistry provides a key tool for the analysis of diachronic change in dietary
practices, as well as correlations between diet and demographic variables such as sex and
status. Detailed studies of changes in the diet of Late Neolithic and Copper Age populations
may help us understand whether subsistence practices played a role in the ‘collapse’ of Late
Neolithic societies in south-east Europe and whether certain members of these societies were
affected more than others.

Stable isotope patterns in south-east Europe

Variation in the light, stable isotopes of carbon ( 13C / 12C) and nitrogen (l 3N / 14N), expressed
as <513C and <513N, in human skeletal tissue can reflect the type and relative proportions of
dietary protein due to fractionation. Fractionation occurs due to the preferential uptake of
lighter isotopes (e.g. I2C over 13C) in biological systems to conserve energy (Hoefs 2004).
This process results in relatively predictable changes in isotopic ratios within food webs, and
is commonly used in archaeological studies for palaeodietary reconstructions.
In temperate Europe, stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes have been used to identify
the types of terrestrial plants used (i.e. domesticated cereals such as wheat and barley that
synthesise CO 2 via the C 3 pathway vs millet, which synthesises CO 2 via the C 4 pathway) and
the relative contribution of animal protein in the diet. The carbon isotope values for human
diets based mostly on terrestrial plants and animals in Europe tend to have a <$I3C range of
- 2 1 % o to - 1 9 % o (Richards & Hedges 1 999: 892), and this was also the case for Early and
Middle Neolithic populations in Serbia and Hungary analysed in previous studies (Whittle
et al. 2 0 0 2 , 2 0 1 3 ; Pearson & Hedges 2007). Changes in this range have been attributed
to two possible dietary sources: freshwater fish and the C 4 plant millet. Freshwater fish in
Europe generally exhibit isotopically depleted <513C values in the range of - 2 3 % o to -21%o,
which can lead to depleted values in humans if fish made a significant contribution to the
diet (Dufour et al. 1 9 99; Katzenberg & Weber 1 9 9 9 ; Lillie & Richards 2 0 0 0 ; Lillie et al.
2003). Conversely, consumption of millet can lead to the enrichment of carbon isotopes in
humans. While most domesticated plants used by the prehistoric populations in Europe
were C 3 plants such as barley and wheat, which exhibit depleted <513C values, there is some
©Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2016

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 Julia I. GibLin & Richard W Yerkes

evidence from isotope analysis and archaeobotanical assemblages that human consumption
of the C4 plant Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), which exhibits enriched 813C values,
did increase in some regions, including eastern Hungary, around the fifth millennium BC
(Murray & Schoeninger 1988; Le Huray & Schutkowski 2005; Honch etal. 2006; Pearson
& Hedges 2007). It is important to note that direct radiocarbon dating of millet seeds from
Neolithic contexts in south-east and Central Europe has resulted in dates of the Bronze Age
or later, potentially challenging the idea that millet was even cultivated during the Neolithic
in this region (see Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute et al. 2013).
Nitrogen isotopes are used in European reconstructions of palaeodiet to determine the
contribution of freshwater vs terrestrial foods and the relative amount of animal protein in
the diet. Depleted 5 ,5N values in humans, close to that for terrestrial herbivores (6%o to
9%o), are generally assumed to indicate a diet based mostly on terrestrial plants (Hedges &
Reynard 2007). Enriched values have been attributed to diets with high contributions
from aquatic resources («14%o to 16%o;Bonsall et al. 2004), or terrestrial animal protein
(8%o to 12%o; Diirrwachter etal. 2006; Honch etal. 2006), and, more recently, mixed diets
of animal protein and crops fertilised with manure (>9%o; Bogaard etal. 2007, 2013; Fraser
et al. 2011).

Methodology
In this study, carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios (<$13C and <515N) from 89 human bone
collagen samples from 9 Late Neolithic and Copper Age settlements and cemeteries were
analysed along with 44 animal bone samples from 3 settlements (Figure 1 & Table 1; see
also online supplementary material). (Detailed site information is available in Giblin 2011.)
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D iet, dispersal a n d social differentiation d uring the Copper Age in eastern H ungary

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 Julia I. G iblin & Richard W. Yerkes

5 '3C%o(PDB)

Figure 2. H um an a n d anim al bone collagen stable isotope data from the Great Hungarian Plain: circles = Late Neolithic
humans; squares = Early Copper Age humans; diamonds = M iddle Copper Age humans; anim al values are shown as the
mean it l a .

These data were collected to address the central hypothesis that dietary practices changed
from the Late Neolithic to the Copper Age. Correlation between stable isotope values and
indicators of social differentiation (via type and quantity of grave goods) was also evaluated.
Human and animal bone samples were prepared for isotope analysis in the David M.
Yerkes and Timothy L. Johnson Memorial Laboratory and in the Human Biology Laboratory
at the Ohio State University (OSU) according to revised procedures described in Ambrose
(1990). (For a detailed explanation of the preparation protocol and assessment of diagenetic
contamination, see Giblin 2011.) Collagen samples were analysed on a Costech Elemental
Analyzer coupled to a Finnigan Delta IV Plus stable isotope ratio mass spectrometer under
continuous flow using a CONFLO III interface at the Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry
Laboratory at OSU. Stable carbon (<513C = per mil deviation of the ratio of 13C:12C relative
to the Vienna Peedee Belemnite Limestone standard) and stable nitrogen (<515N = per mil
deviation of 13N :14N relative to air) measurements were made where the average standard
deviation of repeated measurements of the USGS24 and IAEA-N1 standards was 0.04%o
for <513C and 0.09%o for <515N.

Diet, dispersal and differentiation— the isotope results

Figure 2 shows the <513C and <513N data for all the Late Neolithic and Copper Age
human bones analysed (Table 1). The samples are shown relative to summarised ranges
for domesticated and wild animal species analysed from Neolithic and Copper Age contexts
(data available in online supplementary material).
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 Diet, dispersal and social differentiation during the Copper Age in eastern Hungary

The <515C values for human bone (mean: -20.1%o) fall within the observed range of
carbon isotope values (-21%o to -19%o) for diets based on terrestrial C3 plants and animals
from Europe (Richards & Hedges 1999: 892). There is no evidence that carbon-enriched C4
plants such as millet contributed significantly to the diet of any individual, perhaps lending j*

support to recent scepticism about its cultivation in Europe at this time (see Motuzaite- ^
Matuzeviciute et al. 2013). w
It does not appear that aquatic resources made a major contribution to the Late Neolithic
or Copper Age diets from this sample, although they were available and used to a certain
extent. Fish (especially carp and catfish) and several species of freshwater mussels were
available in eastern Hungary and are found at Neolithic and Copper Age sites (Bartosiewicz
2007; Gulyas et al. 2007; Gulyas & Siimegi 2011). It is difficult to quantify the dietary
importance of aquatic resources (relative to terrestrial sources) from currently excavated
material due to regional variability in collection strategies of small faunal remains (see
Bartosiewicz 2007). An additional complication is the wide range of isotope values associated
with freshwater fish species in Eurasia (<515N: 8 to 16%o; <513C: -35 to -23%o) due to
differences in local freshwater ecosystems and their trophic structures (Dufour et al. 1999).
Hedges and Reynard (2007: 1244) calculate that even with contributions of fish protein
forming up to 20% of the total ingested animal protein for humans (assuming that fish
have nitrogen isotope values enriched by 6%0 over meat and dairy protein), human nitrogen
isotope values would only increase by 0.7%o. In the case of eastern Hungary, <515N values in
freshwater fish are not consistently enriched from terrestrial animal protein, which would
make any isotopic enrichment in humans resulting from freshwater consumption even less
apparent than that calculated by Hedges and Reynard. Even though aquatic resources were
used in both periods, the isotope data do not help to clarify their relative dietary contribution.
The average nitrogen isotope value from the Neolithic and Copper Age human bones
included in this study is 10.8%o. In comparison to the domesticated livestock nitrogen values,
the humans are +3%o to 4%o enriched. Based on the generally applied model of trophic level
enrichment, this would indicate a human diet mainly composed of terrestrial meat and/or
dairy protein. Several other studies have found similar ranges in nitrogen isotope values at
Neolithic and Copper Age sites in Europe and have attributed these values to the primary
consumption of proteins from meat and secondary products such as milk and cheese (e.g.
Richards et al. 2003; Diirrwachter et al. 2006; Honch et al. 2006).
Recently, scholars have questioned the above interpretation that early farming societies in
Europe subsisted on a diet based primarily on meat and dairy products (Bogaard et al. 2007,
2013; Bonsall et al. 2007). In comparison to contemporary populations, a prehistoric diet
that includes 60% (or greater) animal protein is twice as high as estimates for developing
countries (30%), but is close to estimates for developed countries (57%) (comparative data
from the Food and Agriculture Organization from 2006, see Hedges & Reynard 2007:
1244). In contemporary societies, agrarian subsistence economies do not include a 60% or
greater contribution from animal protein, rather, it is pastoral systems such as the Maasai—
where milk provides the majority of their protein— that include such high percentages
of animal protein (Hedges & Reynard 2007: 1248). Although a high level of protein in
Neolithic and Copper Age diets is not impossible, it most resembles the protein-intake
expectations for groups with a pastoral economy rather than an agrarian economy.
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 Julia I. Giblin & Richard W. Yerkes

12

11

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Figure 3. Stable isotope data fo r humans fro m the Great Hungarian Plain grouped by tim e period: circle = Late Neolithic
humans; square = Early Copper Age humans; diam ond = M iddle Copper Age humans; values expressed as the mean =t l a .

When we look at the isotope data over time (Figure 3), it appears that both carbon and
nitrogen values are relatively similar throughout the Late Neolithic and Copper Age. If
animal husbandry increased in importance during the transition, we might expect to see an
enrichment of <5ISN values over time, but there is no isotopic evidence to support this.
To evaluate whether dietary patterns in the Neolithic and Copper Age samples were
influenced by sex or social differentiation (attributed though funerary treatment), the linear
relationship between the <S15N values (i.e. protein consumption) and the type and quantity
of grave goods was evaluated using Pearson’s correlation coefficient (Figure 4; see too the
online supplementary material). If social status during the Late Neolithic and Copper Age
was related to access to higher trophic-level protein sources, we would expect to see a positive
correlation between 5 I5N and grave goods.
In fact, there is a statistically significant negative correlation between <5lr>N and both
quantity and type of grave goods in half of the groups. Although this is a very preliminary
assessment of social differentiation and diet, these results seem to indicate that individuals
(especially females) buried with more elaborate grave goods during the Late Neolithic, and
particularly the Copper Age (when there is an increase in the number and types of grave goods
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 Diet, dispersal and social differentiation during the Copper Age in eastern Hungary

12

11 ,# to A
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Figure 4. The relationship between S 15N a n d the quantity a n d type o f grave goods recordedfo r males (triangles) a n d females
(open circles) during the Late Neolithic an d Copper Age.

included in burials), were actually eating less protein-rich resources such as meat and dairy
than individuals buried with fewer grave goods. It is interesting to note that isotopic results
from the contemporary Varna I cemetery in Bulgaria do not show significant correlations
with the quantity or type of grave goods, despite clear evidence for social inequality in burial
treatment (Honch et al. 2006). Despite evidence that social differentiation was emerging
in some parts of south-east Europe at this time, it may not have been related to differential
access to key dietary resources.

Discussion
Reconstructing dietary patterns is crucial to understanding why changes in material culture,
and consequently social organisation, took place during transitional periods. In this study,
the <513C and 515N values indicate that dietary patterns were relatively stable between the
Late Neolithic and Copper Age in eastern Hungary. The <515N values for all of the human
bones analysed indicate a relatively high trophic position in the food web. It does not seem
probable that meat alone made such a large contribution to the diet (see Hedges & Reynard
2007). Dairy is a possible dietary source that could lead to enriched bone collagen values,
and dairy fats have indeed been identified in residues from Neolithic pottery in Hungary
(Craig et al. 2005, 2007). A larger sample size of Neolithic and Copper Age pottery from
eastern Hungary analysed by Hoekman-Sites and Giblin (2012) identified only one sherd
(2.5% of the sample) that contained dairy fat compared to 51% of sherds that contained
animal fat. This, combined with a lack of other archaeological correlates for an agro-pastoral
economy (recently summarised by Giblin 2014; also, see Greenfield 2010), led us to the
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 Julia I. Giblin & Richard W. Yerkes

conclusion that dairy probably made a minor contribution to Late Neolithic and Copper
Age diets in this region.
While the authors are not aware of direct evidence for the use of manure as fertiliser
in this region during the Neolithic and Copper Age, data from a long-term experimental
study of the effects of manuring on wheat crops indicates that manure leads to bulk grain
515N values of 3 % o to 8%o. Therefore, a mixed diet of manure-enriched cereals and animal
products would result in human <515N values of 9 % o to l l % o (similar to predicted diets
based primarily on meat protein) (see Bogaard et al. 2 0 0 7 , 2 0 1 3 ; Fraser et al. 2011). Amy
Bogaard and colleagues (2007: 3 3 6 ) argue that it was precisely this integration of plant and
animal by-products that allowed Neolithic and Copper Age farmers to enhance crop yields
and spread into new environments. Even though we hypothesise that a manuring effect
may have contributed to the elevated <515N values of Late Neolithic and Copper Age bone
collagen from eastern Hungary, this needs to be evaluated by other lines of data in future
studies (e.g. soil chemistry, stable isotope analysis of palaeobotanical remains).
Finally, there is no evidence for ‘elite’ and ‘commoner’ diets during these periods.
Individuals buried with more elaborate grave goods had the same (and in some cases
lower) nitrogen isotope values as people buried in simpler graves (Honch etal. 2 0 0 6 ; Giblin
2011). This does not discount the possibility that changes in social organisation played
an important role in the Late Neolithic—Copper Age transition, but it does indicate that
the more elaborate burial treatments that started to emerge in the Copper Age, in eastern
Hungary and elsewhere, did not necessarily reflect differential access to food resources.
Several scholars have proposed that smaller, less integrated and independent units of
social and economic reproduction— e.g. households— became the primary unit of social
organisation following the florescence of the ‘mature’, nucleated Late Neolithic societies of
south-east Europe (e.g. Sherratt 1 9 8 4 ; Tringham & Krstic 1 990; Bogucki 1 993; Halstead
1999; Flannery 2 0 0 2 ; Parkinson 2 0 0 6 ; Yerkes et al. 2 0 0 9 ; Parkinson et al. 2 010). In the

various iterations of this model, multiple pushes (environmental degradation, resource stress,
internal conflict and population growth) and pulls (technological innovations, incentives
to intensify production and a more fertile anthropogenic landscape) played a role in the
gradual abandonment of large, nucleated tell villages and the emergence of more dispersed,
independent hamlets. Far from a ‘collapse’, this process may reflect the benefits of the
sustainable system of farming and livestock management that was established at the end of
the Late Neolithic period and which opened new frontiers for autonomous villages during
the Copper Age.

Conclusion
The isotope results from this paper provide support for the gradual emergence of smaller
independent, but integrated, societies by the end of the Late Neolithic that became fully
independent during the Copper Age. This occurred without the emergence of ‘chiefs’ with
enhanced authority or social ranking. Palaeoenvironmental evidence for an opening of the
landscape on the plains of eastern Hungary, in conjunction with elevated nitrogen isotope
values from humans, may lend support to the idea that early farming societies of south-east
Europe were causing environmental changes that actually increased the biodiversity and
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 D iet, dispersal a n d social differentiation during the Copper Age in eastern H ungary

productive potential for farming and small-scale animal husbandry, which in turn allowed
extended families to spread out and subsist on their own.

A cknow ledgem ents

This research was financially supported by the National Science Foundation (award 0929110). For access and H
help with the sample collection process, thanks go to Zsolt Bereczki, Erika Molnar, Gyorgy Palfi, Antonia qj
Marcsik, Ildiko Pap, Szabolcs Makra, Bela Zilahy, Ildikd Szikossy, Tamas Hajdu, Pal Raczky, Alexandra Anders, <3
Laszlo Bartosiewicz, M arta Daroczi-Szabo, Anna Biller and Zsbfia Kovacs. For assistance with sample preparation ^
and stable isotope analysis, thanks are due to Laurie Reitsema, Stanley H. Ambrose, Megan Luthern, Shane
Whitacre, Sandy Jones, Andrea Grottoli and Yohei Matsui. Thank you also to William Parkinson and Attila
Gyucha for guidance and support related to this research. Finally, many thanks for the insightful suggestions of
the two anonymous reviewers.

Supplementary material
To view supplementary material for this article, please visit http://dx.doi.org/10.
15184/aqy.20l6.3

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