Transhumant pastoralism and livestock mobility in the mountainous regions of Iron Age western Sicily.

Strontium isotope analyses on livestock from Monte Iato

Abstract: 

In addition to modern forms of livestock and pasture management, transhumance—the seasonal movement of grazing livestock—remains common in the mountainous hinterland of Sicily. However, this practice of pastoral agriculture has a millennia-old tradition that has so far been scarcely researched. Building on archaeozoological and archaeobotanical studies, this research aims to close this gap using the hilltop settlement of Monte Iato in western Sicily as a case study. The goal is to investigate the livestock management strategies of the settlement and to identify the catchment areas of the sacrificial animals slaughtered at the settlement’s cult site through strontium isotope analyses of cattle, sheep/goat, and pig teeth. Using the high-resolution laser ablation technique, hundreds of isotope measurements can be conducted per millimeter, allowing researchers to trace the geographic origins of the animals and their seasonal movements across different time periods.