Reconstructing dietary practices at Tell Kamid el-Loz (Lebanon) during the Bronze and Iron Age III / Persian to Hellenistic periods using plant micro-remains from dental calculus and stable isotope analysis of bone collagen.

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Tell Kamid el-Loz (Lebanon) was an important Bronze Age urban center that dominated one of the central crossroads of the Ancient Near East, connecting Egypt and the Levant with northern Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and Syria, as well as the interior with the Mediterranean coast. However, by the early Iron Age, the site had shrunk to a small rural settlement. Later, in the Iron Age III / Persian-Hellenistic, only enigmatic pits and a large cemetery remained. In this paper, we analyzed plant micro-remains from the dental calculus of 15 individuals (3 from the Middle Bronze Age II and 12 from the Iron Age III / Persian-Hellenistic) and C and N stable isotope data from tbulk bone collagen of 74 individuals (10 from the Middle Bronze Age II and 64 from the Iron Age III / Persian-Hellenistic) and 13 Late Bronze Age animal bones (7 and 6 ). Our results indicate general stability of human diet throughout the Middle Bronze Age II and the Iron III / Persian-Hellenistic periods, with a reliance on C plant crops and terrestrial animals also consuming C plants. In the later period, the plant micro-remains indicate the consumption of C plants and sedges, and the stable isotope analysis indicates differences in diet between males and females.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12520-024-02000-w.