Carbon and nitrogen isotope values from bone collagen of the prehistoric humans and fauna from Grotta d’Oriente.

The fauna includes: red deer (C. elaphus), aurochs (B. primigenius), wild boar (S. scrofa), red fox (V. vulpes), ovicaprids (Ovis vel Capra) and dusky grouper (E. marginatus). The C. elaphus specimen S-EVA 13802 originates from stratigraphic unit 110–180 cm in Trench C and is in a different state of preservation compared to all other bones analyzed, thereby pre-dating the Mesolithic humans (Oriente B and X) and most certainly also the late Upper Palaeolithic individual (Oriente C). The wild boar (S. scrofa) specimen S-EVA 13810 is a juvenile and its high δ15N value compared to S-EVA 13811 (an adult) probably reflects in part the isotopic composition of protein acquired before weaning. The samples of ovicaprids (Ovis vel Capra) are early Neolithic and post-date all the humans from Grotta d’Oriente. This might also be the case of the dusky grouper (Epinephelus marginatus) specimen from stratigraphic unit 14–40 cm of Trench C (S-EVA 13800).