MALTHUS. Rise and fall cycles of Bronze age populations in Northern Italy

During the Late Copper and Bronze Ages, the areas of the central Po valley were characterised by unprecedented growth, due to the introduction of efficient agricultural technologies and the consequent increase in food production, giving rise to the Terramare Culture. After a period of growth, connecting Continental Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, these systems experienced a rapid decline, traditionally explained by climatic, social and geopolitical factors, leading to the crises of the 12th century BC.

In the framework of the MALTHUS project, research will be carried out on demographic fluctuations in the Po plain, following indicators of ‘growth’ and ‘crisis’, such as demographic parameters, nutrition, mobility and diseases, which have not been investigated so far. The so-called ‘Third Scientific Revolution in Archaeology’ will be used to understand the historical cycles of Italian preprotohistory. Carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis will be used to assess nutrition and subsistence strategies, and strontium and oxygen isotopes will be used to study mobility dynamics. In addition, and with particular emphasis on the study of infectious and pathogenic diseases, an integrated approach to osteoarchaeology and biomolecular analysis will be adopted using a multi-omics approach. Protein and lipid biomarkers will be used to study disease and plant-based nutrition, microbial DNA will be used to reconstruct complete pathogen genomes, and profiling of metabolites related to health and disease will be pursued. The main objective of this study is to obtain new information on the infectious epidemics that may have affected the communities of the Po plain and contributed to the dissolution of the Terramare system.