In my recent paper titled “Exploring Diversity in Neolithic Agropastoral Management in Mainland Greece Using Stable Isotope Analysis” (2021, Environmental Archaeology), I collaborated with archaeologists and archaeological scientists from Greece, England, France, Australia, and the United States on three very exciting archaeological assemblages from Neolithic Greece.
The three sites provided distinct environmental settings from the topographically and climatically varied landscape of continental Greece: the coastal site of Halai (central Greece), a site located in the very fertile Sparta Basin on the Pelopponesian peninsula (Kouphovouno, southern Greece), and a site that was located in close proximity to coastal salt marshes in the Thermaic Gulf (Makriyalos, northern Greece).
Analysis of the stable isotope (carbon and nitrogen) values of crop and animal remains from the three sites enabled us to assess the degree to which the ancient farmers integrated a mixed farming system into their subsistence economy.
Even with such a small number of sites, the results showed that early farmers in Greece used distinctive strategies to manage their livestock and cultivate their crops.