Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jasrep Dietary habits in the Early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC) of Anatolia: A multi-isotopic approach Benjamin Irvine a, ⁎ ,Yılmaz Selim Erdal b , Michael P. Richards c a Institut für Vorderasiatische Archäologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Fabeckstraße 23-25, 14195 Berlin, Germany b Department of Anthropology, Hacettepe University, Beytepe, Ankara 06800, Turkey c Simon Fraser University, Department of Archaeology, Education Building 9635, 8888 University Dr., Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Turkey Palaeodiet Subsistence Bioarchaeology Biochemistry Carbon-13 Nitrogen-15 Sulphur-34 ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of isotopic analysis for dietary reconstruction of humans and animal remains from several prehistoric (3500–2000 BCE) populations in Anatolia. The investigated sites are İkiztepe (north Anatolia, Samsun region, on the Black Sea coast), Titriş Höyük (south east Anatolia, Urfa region), Bademağacı (south Anatolia, Antalya region), and Bakla Tepe (south west Anatolia, in the İzmir region). This research utilises the results of stable isotope analyses of carbon (δ 13 C), nitrogen (δ 15 N), and sulphur (δ 34 S) in bone collagen from over 200 human and animal samples in conjunction with published archaeological, archaeobotanical, and archae- ozoological data (where present) to address this issue. This study, for the first time, has permitted a wider observation of Early Bronze Age dietary habits and subsistence strategies across the region, as well as examining the nature of dietary habits on an intra- and inter-site level, and temporally across the 3rd millennium BC. The results show that during the EBA in Anatolia there was a general degree of homogeneity in dietary habits at an intra- and inter-site and regional level and across the millennium of the EBA with diets being predominantly terrestrial C 3 based. 1. Introduction 1.1. Background to the research Studying emerging urban communities can be useful for under- standing the development and consequences of specific strategies of agricultural intensification (White et al., 2014). The Anatolian Early Bronze Age (EBA) marks the first time that some settlements and po- pulations which could be considered as ‘urban’ are witnessed in this region of the Near East. Unlike the Neolithic period in Anatolia, the EBA has had relatively little published research focus on dietary habits, subsistence practices, farming and related interactions with the land- scape, instead focusing on material culture (Bachhuber, 2015; Frangipane, 2015). It is clear that the EBA is a time of change and in- creased social complexity and conflict, and it is important to consider the effects of these socio-economic and socio-political changes on subsistence and resource utilisation practices with regards to individual and population dietary habits. It has been argued that major political and environmental events (wars, alliances, droughts, and famines) would have had significant repercussions for diets across the social spectrum (Somerville et al., 2013). Furthermore, bone stable isotope analysis of diets, when applied to time periods of intense cultural change and social pressure can provide insights on social inequality and differential food access (Reitsema and Vercellotti, 2012). The analysis of dietary habits can give insights into subsistence patterns, resource utilisation, and measure inter- and intra-group variations in dietary composition (Turner et al., 2007). The identity of consumer or social groups is closely linked to patterns in dietary choices, in other words there can be a link between diet and social group (Bourdieu, 1984; Somerville et al., 2013; Ünlü, 2016). Food can be used to maintain social boundaries, can be related to culture/cultural identity, and can be restricted by factors such as social organisation and the physical environment (Stonge, 2012). 1.2. Sample sites The sample populations come from four separate and geo- graphically distinct archaeological sites (see Fig. 1) ranging in date from the Late Chalcolithic (late 4th millennium BC) to the EBA III period (late 3rd millennium BC). The sites were selected from those that had available skeletal material for sampling and also came from a varied range of altitudes, environmental and geographical areas/zones, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.01.015 Received 25 June 2018; Received in revised form 17 December 2018; Accepted 20 January 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: birvine@biaatr.org (B. Irvine), yserdal@hacettepe.edu.tr (Y.S. Erdal), michael_richards@sfu.ca (M.P. Richards). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 24 (2019) 253–263 2352-409X/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T