Title: Archaeobotanical Evidence of Plant Food Consumption among Early Farmers (5700-4500 BC) in the Western Mediterranean Region
Abstract: Domesticated plants, gathered wild plants and possibly not fully domesticated but cultivated plants (e.g., poppy) were an integral part of the Neolithic diet. Data from 65 sites of the Early Neolithic phase (5800-4500 cal. BC) ranging from the territories of the North Eastern Iberian Peninsula to the Po valley is used to illustrate farmers’ choices in crop assemblages and plant gathering activities. We conclude that plant food consumption was very diverse in the Neolithic, involving cultivated cereals, pulses and oil plants, along with varying levels of gathered resources, depending on environmental conditions.