Publication details
Data on fatty acids extracted from the pottery of the first farmers in Central Europe
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
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| Description | Sedentary lifestyle, agriculture and production of ceramic vessels are just a few aspects connected with the transition to farming, which in Central Europe happened around 5500 calBC. The first farming communities are associated with the Linear Pottery culture (Linearbandkeramik, further known as the LBK), which occupied large parts of Europe. The subsistence patterns of these communities are usually based on the study of archaeozoological or archaeobotanical material. However, they are not found in large quantities compared to abundant pottery vessels. Recent research has demonstrated that ceramic vessels may contain lipids that can inform the type of food cooked, served or stored inside the vessels. The presented dataset brings dietary information on the LBK based on fatty acid analysis extracted from the pottery. The research focused on several questions: 1) to what extent the natural environment affected the diet; 2) whether the house size affected the diet; 3) whether the volume of the vessels and vessel types affected the cooked/served/stored food. Samples were taken from four different settlements in the eastern part of the Czech Republic, each lying in a different environment (lowland, upland, foothill and basin): Těšetice-Kyjovice, Lechovice, Otrokovice-Kvítkovice and Zlín-Malenovice, which are contemporary from the chronological point of view. The research contributes to understanding the variability of the first farmers' diet, the households' social-economic impact, and the function of pottery during food processing. |
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