Isotopic Insights into Livestock Production in Roman Italy: Diet, Seasonality, and Mobility on an Imperial Estate

Angela Trentacoste, Michael MacKinnon, Christopher Day, Petrus Le Roux, Michael Buckley, Myles McCallum and Maureen Carroll

Environmental Archaeology, 2025, vol. 30, issue 4, 409-431

Abstract: Agriculture is the most important intersection between farming communities and the natural world, with major implications for land exploitation and labour organisation. In Italy, at the heart of the Roman Empire, understanding of agriculture remains heavily dependent on ancient sources, which are unable to provide a regional or diachronic view of practices across the socio-economic spectrum. In order to gain insight into agricultural economies in Roman Italy and their social and environmental implications, this article reconstructs agro-pastoral strategies at an imperial estate in southern Italy through a multi-isotope investigation of livestock bone collagen and tooth enamel. Analysis of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium isotopes (δ13C, δ15N, δ18O, 87Sr/86Sr) are combined to evaluate animal management and mobility at Vagnari vicus and the villa of San Felice in the Basentello Valley. Results reveal taxon-specific herding strategies with the potential for significant inputs from legume forage/fodder and/or natural environments. Caprine herding did not appear to include long-distance transhumance. This analysis moves past previous text-based generalisations to provide a new and nuanced perspective on animal production in rural southern Italy and its economic and environmental implications.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/14614103.2023.2282866

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