Palaeodiet of Mesolithic and Neolithic populations of Meuse Basin (Belgium): evidence from stable isotopes Herve ´ Bocherens a,b, * , Caroline Polet c , Michel Toussaint d a Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, UMR 5554, Universite ´ Montpellier 2, case courrier 64, Place Euge `ne Bataillon, F-34095 Montpellier cedex 05, France b Institute fu ¨r Ur- und Fru ¨hgeschichte und Archa ¨ologie des Mittelalters, Abteilung A ¨ ltere Urgeschichte und Quarta ¨ro ¨ kologie, Schloss, Burgsteige 11, D-72070 Tu ¨bingen, Germany c Laboratoire d’Anthropologie et de Pre ´histoire, Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, rue Vautier, 29, B-1000 Bruxelles, Belgium d Direction de l’Arche ´ologie, Rue des Brigades d’Irlande, 1, 5100 Jambes, Belgium Received 1 December 2005; received in revised form 13 March 2006; accepted 16 March 2006 Abstract The human diet was investigated using the carbon and nitrogen isotopic signatures of 93 Mesolithic and Neolithic specimens (w10,000e 2000 BC) from the Meuse Basin (Belgium). During the Ancient Mesolithic period (w9300e8000 BC), the environment was generally open and the main dietary protein was provided by hunted terrestrial mammals, with the possible addition of freshwater resources. Human remains are not available in the Meuse Basin from around 8000 BC to 4300 BC, thus preventing the study of the Mesolithic-Neolithic dietary transition in this region. Throughout the Middle Neolithic (w4300e3000 BC), hunting was more difficult and less productive due to a densely forested environment. The contribution of freshwater resources to the diet increased, with the remaining proteins provided by terrestrial wild and/or domestic mammals, indicating that non-agricultural resources were not eliminated in this region during the Middle Neolithic period. The con- tribution of freshwater resources seems negligible in the Middle/Late and Late Neolithic periods (w3300e1700 BC), with isotopic results revealing a diet composed of agricultural products. The d 15 N values of infants are compatible with a weaning age at around 2 years. This study documents the dietary changes that occurred in Belgium during the first part of the Holocene, and reveals the subtle dietary distinction between wild and domestic terrestrial resources and freshwater resources. Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Diet; Carbon-13; Nitrogen-15; Belgium; Mesolithic; Neolithic 1. Introduction Although human remains are numerous in the early Holocene of the Meuse Basin, little is known about how these people lived, or what their dietary habits might have been. Also, little is understood concerning the environment and sub- sistence during the Mesolithic in this area [22] as well as during the Middle and Late Neolithic in the karstic Meuse Ba- sin. The main sites containing some palaeoenvironmental and palaeodietary information are ‘‘Abri du Pape’’ in Dinant [41] and ‘‘Abri Lechat’’ in Hamoir [21,40]. Evidence for settlement sites is limited to flint artifact concentrations near springs, but none of these sites have been excavated recently. Thus, human skeletal remains are the main source of palaeodietary informa- tion. Burials cover a chronological range from the Ancient Mesolithic to Late Neolithic, with a gap occurring from the Middle Mesolithic to Early Neolithic [69]. This chronological gap between the Ancient Mesolithic and Middle Neolithic will be difficult to fill since the one burial from this period in the studied region has yielded only burnt bones, which are * Corresponding author. Institute fu ¨r Ur- und Fru ¨hgeschichte und Archa ¨olo- gie des Mittelalters, Abteilung A ¨ ltere Urgeschichte und Quarta ¨ro ¨kologie, Schloss, Burgsteige 11, D-72070 Tu ¨bingen, Germany. Tel.: þ49 7071 29 78913; fax: þ49 7071 29 5714. E-mail address: herve.bocherens@uni-tuebingen.de (H. Bocherens). 0305-4403/$ - see front matter Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2006.03.009 Journal of Archaeological Science 34 (2007) 10e27 http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas