Palaeodiet in Central and Southern Italy from Upper Palaeolithic to Eneolithic

The foregoing Neolithic farming transition modified whole Europe with strong social and demographic repercussions, which led to the birth of agricultural and breeding systems. Subsequently, important cultural and economic changes occurred during Eneolithic period. Bogucki (1984) suggests that these changes could be ascribed also to the introduction of the plow and to the intensification of secondary animal product use (milk, dairy products, wool, manure and traction): the so called 'Secondary Products Revolution' (Sherratt 1981, 1983). The EPIC project aims to clarify the genetic modification, nutrition and mobility of the Central and Southern Italy inhabitants from the Upper Palaeolithic to Eneolithic, a crucial period of the human demographic and perhaps biological history.