Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Fellowship
Unravelling livestock diet and mobility across the Bronze–Iron Age transition in the Western Mediterranean
News
A new article on livestock mobility during the Bronze–Iron Age transition in insular contexts has been published, presenting preliminary OVIS data.
Read more →New excavation and sampling campaign for the OVIS project, with international collaboration from three partner institutions.
Read more →The laboratory has begun analysis of new dental samples from Menorca and Sardinia, focusing on strontium and oxygen isotopes.
Read more →Preliminary OVIS results were presented at an international stable isotopes congress, generating significant interest from the community.
Read more →Project
OVIS (Origins of Variability in Island Systems) is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fellowship investigating the diet, mobility, and management of ovicaprids — sheep and goats — across the Western Mediterranean islands during the Bronze and Iron Ages.
Island communities in the ancient Mediterranean developed distinct strategies for managing livestock, shaped by geography, trade routes, and cultural exchange. By applying stable isotope analysis to faunal remains, OVIS reconstructs these strategies with unprecedented resolution.
The project combines zooarchaeological analysis with multi-isotope approaches (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, strontium) on dental and bone remains. Sites in Menorca, Sardinia, and Sicily are compared to build a regional picture of pastoral practices.
Bibliography
"Livestock mobility in Bronze Age Menorca: a multi-isotope approach"
Journal of Archaeological Science, 58(2), 112–128
DOI →"Strontium isotope analysis of prehistoric fauna: methodological considerations"
Archaeometry, 65(1), 44–60
DOI →"Ovicaprid husbandry in the Western Mediterranean: a review of zooarchaeological evidence"
Quaternary International, 612, 88–104
DOI →"Foddering by Mongolian pastoralists is recorded in the stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopes of caprine dentinal collagen"
Journal of Archaeological Science, 38(4), 880–888
DOI →"Traditional pig herding practices in Cyprus: a contribution to the study of animal husbandry in antiquity"
World Archaeology, 44(3), 351–369
DOI →"OVIS project: preliminary results from Sardinian Bronze Age contexts"
Proceedings of the International Isotope Meeting 2024
PDF →Discussion
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