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The human microbiome has recently become a valuable source of information about host life and health. To date little is known about how it may have evolved during key phases along our history, such as the Neolithic transition towards agriculture. Here, we shed light on the evolution experienced by the oral microbiome during this transition, comparing Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers with Neolithic and Copper Age farmers that populated a same restricted area in Italy. We integrate the analysis of 76 dental calculus oral microbiomes with the dietary information derived from the identification of embedded plant remains. We detect a stronger deviation from the hunter-gatherer microbiome composition in the last part of the Neolithic, while to a lesser extent in the early phases of the transition. Our findings demonstrate that the introduction of agriculture affected host microbiome, supporting the hypothesis of a gradual transition within the investigated populations.

International audience; We present new, full geomagnetic field vector results from three Neolithic ovens discovered at the archaeological site of Portonovo (Marche, Italy). The discovered structures are a rare example of very well preserved underground ovens from the Early Neolithic period. Standard thermal demagnetization procedures were used to isolate the direction of the Characteristic Remanent Magnetization acquired by the baked clay during the ovens' last firing. The corresponding archaeointensities were determined by the multi-specimen procedure (MSP-DSC) and show a clear intensity low during the Neolithic period. Both directional and intensity results are of high quality, offering the first contribution of full geomagnetic field vector data for this period in Italy. The new data are compared with other contemporaneous data from Europe and with global geomagnetic field models. Independent archaeomagnetic dating of the three ovens was also performed by means of the SCHA.DIF.14k model. The obtained results are in excellent agreement with available radiocarbon dates and confirm that all ovens belong to the Neolithic. These new data importantly enrich our knowledge of the geomagnetic field during the Neolithic period that is poorly documented by data, not only in Italy but also in the whole of Europe and show that archaeomagnetic dating can provide precise results even for prehistoric periods.

Stable isotope analysis of human remains has been used to address long-standing debates regarding the speed and degree to which the introduction of farming transformed diet. In Europe, this debate has centered on northern and Atlantic regions with much less attention devoted to the arrival of farming across the Mediterranean. This study presents carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses of collagen from 19 human and 37 faunal remains from eight sites in the Apulia and Marche regions of south- eastern and central Italy, dating to the early phases of agricultural adoption during the first half of the 6th Millennium BC. Where collagen preservation permit- ted, sulfur stable isotope analysis was also performed. Overall, there was significant isotopic variation between the different geographic regions, although there was also considerable uncertainty in interpreting these data, especially given heterogeneous isotope val- ues for fauna from site to site. By considering isotope data from each region separately, it was noticeable that the degree of carbon isotope enrichment in humans compared to fauna was higher for individuals buried near the coast, consistent with increased ma- rine consumption. Coastal individuals also had higher sulfur isotope values. Nitrogen isotope values were very variable between individuals and regions and, in some cases, were consistent with very high plant food consumption. Overall, early ''farmers'' in south-east and central Italy consumed a wide range of foods, including marine, and had much more variable stable isotope values than those observed in central and northern Europe during this period, perhaps indicating a different mode for agricultural adoption. Am J Phys Anthropol 149:380-390, 2012. V C