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Makarewicz CA, Winter-Schuh C, Jackson M, Johannesson EG, Amartuvshin C, Honeychurch W. Local circulation of elites punctuated by transregional mobility enabled steppe political consolidation in the Xiongnu nomadic state. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0298593. [PMID: 38557862 PMCID: PMC10984472 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0298593] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2022] [Accepted: 01/28/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
The Xiongnu polity (ca. 200 BC- 150 AD) emerged out of indigenous community-centered socio-political structures to forge a powerful state that commanded the Mongolian steppe and beyond. Underpinned by a highly mobile pastoralist population, accustomed to seasonally rhythmic moves and embedded in an equestrian culture that facilitated rapid transport over long-distances, it remains unclear precisely how the movement of commoners, local aristocrats and regional elites abetted the formation and organization of Xiongnu state structures. Here, we evaluate Xiongnu movement and dietary intake through multi-stable isotopic analyses of tooth enamel from directly dated Xiongnu intermediate elites recovered from the mortuary center of Baga Gazaryn Chuluu-a prominent granite outcrop set in the Gobi Desert. Carbon isotope (δ13C) analysis indicates millet was consumed by some individuals, but whether or not this C4 cultivar contributed to the diets of most elites remains ambiguous in this C3/C4 desert-steppe environment. The effectiveness of oxygen isotopes (δ18O) to establish mobility appears much reduced in steppe environments, where geospatially sensitive information appears disrupted by extraordinary seasonality in meteoric water oxygen isotopes, pronounced oxygen isotopic variation in potential drinking water sources, and culturally mediated drinking practices. Most revealing, strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr) indicate circulation of local elites around this central place and beyond, a mobility format that helped leaders cement their own position through political consolidation of spatially dispersed mobile pastoralist communities. The consistent presence at Baga Gazaryn Chuluu of extra-local intermediate elites also points toward the importance of transregional mobility in binding together the Xiongnu polity over the vast distances of the eastern steppe.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cheryl A Makarewicz
- Archaeology Stable Isotope Laboratory, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany
- Institute for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Christine Winter-Schuh
- Archaeology Stable Isotope Laboratory, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany
- Institute for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Meghan Jackson
- Meghan Jackson, Ossifrage Exploration Consulting LLC, Huelva, Spain
| | | | - Chunag Amartuvshin
- Chunag Amartuvshin, Archaeological Research Center, National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
| | - William Honeychurch
- William Honeychurch, Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States of America
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Romboni M, Arienzo I, Di Vito MA, Lubritto C, Piochi M, Di Cicco MR, Rickards O, Rolfo MF, Sevink J, De Angelis F, Alessandri L. La Sassa cave: Isotopic evidence for Copper Age and Bronze Age population dynamics in Central Italy. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0288637. [PMID: 37494366 PMCID: PMC10370757 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0288637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2022] [Accepted: 06/30/2023] [Indexed: 07/28/2023] Open
Abstract
This study focuses on the changes in diet and mobility of people buried in the La Sassa cave (Latium, Central Italy) during the Copper and Bronze Ages to contribute to the understanding of the complex contemporary population dynamics in Central Italy. To that purpose, carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses, strontium isotope analyses, and FT-IR evaluations were performed on human and faunal remains from this cave. The stable isotope analyses evidence a slight shift in diet between Copper and Bronze Age individuals, which becomes prominent in an individual, dating from a late phase, when the cave was mainly used as a cultic shelter. This diachronic study documents an increased dietary variability due to the introduction of novel resources in these protohistoric societies, possibly related to the southward spread of northern human groups into Central Italy. This contact between different cultures is also testified by the pottery typology found in the cave. The latter shows an increase in cultural intermingling starting during the beginning of the middle Bronze Age. The local mobility during this phase likely involved multiple communities scattered throughout an area of a few kilometers around the cave, which used the latter as a burial site both in the Copper and Bronze ages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Romboni
- Centre of Molecular Anthropology for Ancient DNA Studies, Department of Biology, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy
- Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Ilenia Arienzo
- National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Vesuvius Observatory, Naples, Italy
| | - Mauro Antonio Di Vito
- National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Vesuvius Observatory, Naples, Italy
| | - Carmine Lubritto
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Ambientali Biologiche e Farmaceutiche (DISTABiF), Università degli Studi della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Caserta, Italy
- INFN Naples - CHNet, Naples, Italy
| | - Monica Piochi
- National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Vesuvius Observatory, Naples, Italy
| | - Maria Rosa Di Cicco
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Ambientali Biologiche e Farmaceutiche (DISTABiF), Università degli Studi della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Caserta, Italy
| | - Olga Rickards
- Centre of Molecular Anthropology for Ancient DNA Studies, Department of Biology, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy
| | - Mario Federico Rolfo
- Department of History, Culture and Society, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy
| | - Jan Sevink
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Flavio De Angelis
- Centre of Molecular Anthropology for Ancient DNA Studies, Department of Biology, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy
- Department of Mental, Physical Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Naples, Italy
| | - Luca Alessandri
- Groningen Institute of Archaeology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Department of Science of Antiquity, University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy
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Pospieszny Ł, Makarowicz P, Lewis J, Szczepanek A, Górski J, Włodarczak P, Romaniszyn J, Grygiel R, Belka Z. Assessing the mobility of Bronze Age societies in East-Central Europe. A strontium and oxygen isotope perspective on two archaeological sites. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0282472. [PMID: 36930597 PMCID: PMC10022790 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2022] [Accepted: 02/16/2023] [Indexed: 03/18/2023] Open
Abstract
European Bronze Age societies are generally characterised by increased mobility and the application of isotopic methods to archaeology has allowed the rate and range of human travels to be quantified. However, little is known about the mobility of the people inhabiting East-Central Europe in the late Early and Middle Bronze Age (1950-1250 BC) whose primary subsistence strategy was herding supported by crop cultivation. This paper presents the results of strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope analyses in the enamel of people buried in collective graves at the cemeteries in Gustorzyn and Żerniki Górne. These sites are located in Kujawy and the Nida Basin, a lowland and an upland region with clearly different environmental conditions, respectively. Both sites are classified as belonging to the Trzciniec cultural circle and were used between 16th and 13th centuries BC. Among the 34 examined individuals only an adult female from Gustorzyn can be assessed as non-local based on both 87Sr/86Sr and δ18O signatures in her first molar. This may indicate the practice of exogamy in the studied population but more generally corresponds with the hypothesis of limited mobility within these societies, as has previously been inferred from archaeological evidence, anthropological analysis, and stable isotope-based diet reconstruction. New and existing data evaluated in this paper show that the 87Sr/86Sr variability in the natural environment of both regions is relatively high, allowing the tracking of short-range human mobility. A series of oxygen isotope analyses (conducted for all but one individuals studied with strontium isotopes) indicates that δ18O ratios measured in phosphate are in agreement with the predicted modern oxygen isotope precipitation values, and that this method is useful in detecting travels over larger distances. The challenges of using both 87Sr/86Sr and δ18O isotopic systems in provenance studies in the glacial landscapes of temperate Europe are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Łukasz Pospieszny
- Institute of Archaeology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | | | - Jamie Lewis
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Anita Szczepanek
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Science, Kraków, Poland
- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland
| | - Jacek Górski
- Department of History and Cultural Heritage, University of Pope Jan Paweł II, Kraków, Poland
- Archaeological Museum in Cracow, Kraków, Poland
| | - Piotr Włodarczak
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Science, Kraków, Poland
| | - Jan Romaniszyn
- Faculty of Archaeology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poznań, Poland
| | | | - Zdzislaw Belka
- Isotope Research Unit, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
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Strontium isotope analyses of archaeological cremated remains – new data and perspectives. Data Brief 2022; 42:108115. [PMID: 35496490 PMCID: PMC9038568 DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2022.108115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2021] [Revised: 03/17/2022] [Accepted: 03/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Cremated human remains are commonly found in the archaeological records, especially in Europe during the Metal Ages and the Roman period. Due to the high temperatures reached during cremation (up to 1000°C), most biological information locked in the isotopic composition of different tissues is heavily altered or even destroyed. The recent demonstration that strontium isotope ratio (87Sr/86Sr) remain unaltered during cremation and are even very resistant to post-burial alterations (which is not the case in unburned bone), opened new possibility for palaeomobility studies of ancient populations that practice cremations as a funerary ritual. This paper summarizes strontium isotopic data produced over the last decade which is then deposited on the open-access platform IsoArcH (https://isoarch.eu/) for any interested parties to use. It is the first time isotopic data on cremated remains is introduced in this database, significantly extending its impact on the scientific community.
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Salorno—Dos de la Forca (Adige Valley, Northern Italy): A unique cremation site of the Late Bronze Age. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0267532. [PMID: 35584081 PMCID: PMC9116657 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2021] [Accepted: 04/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The archaeological site of Salorno—Dos de la Forca (Bozen, Alto Adige) provides one of the rarest and most significant documentations of cremated human remains preserved from an ancient cremation platform (ustrinum). The pyre area, located along the upper Adige valley, is dated to the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1150–950 BCE) and has yielded an unprecedented quantity of cremated human remains (about 63.5 kg), along with burnt animal bone fragments, shards of pottery, and other grave goods made in bronze and animal bone/antler. This study focuses on the bioanthropological analysis of the human remains and discusses the formation of the unusual burnt deposits at Salorno through comparisons with modern practices and protohistoric and contemporaneous archaeological deposits. The patterning of bone fragmentation and commingling was investigated using spatial data recorded during excavation which, along with the bioanthropological and archaeological data, are used to model and test two hypotheses: Salorno—Dos de la Forca would be the result of A) repeated primary cremations left in situ; or B) of residual material remaining after select elements were removed for internment in urns or burials to unknown depositional sites. By modelling bone weight and demographic data borrowed from regional affine contexts, the authors suggest that this cremation site may have been used over several generations by a small community–perhaps a local elite. With a quantity of human remains that exceeds that of any other coeval contexts interpreted as ustrina, Salorno may be the product of a complex series of rituals in which the human cremains did not receive individual burial, but were left in situ, in a collective/communal place of primary combustion, defining an area of repeated funeral ceremonies involving offerings and libations across a few generations. This would represent a new typological and functional category that adds to the variability of mortuary customs at the end of the Bronze Age in the Alpine are, at a time in which “globalising” social trends may have stimulated the definition of more private identities.
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Frei R, Frank AB, Frei KM. The proper choice of proxies for relevant strontium isotope baselines used for provenance and mobility studies in glaciated terranes - Important messages from Denmark. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 821:153394. [PMID: 35093367 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153394] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2021] [Revised: 01/20/2022] [Accepted: 01/20/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Strontium (Sr) isotope based provenance and mobility studies of ancient humans and animals necessitate representative isoscapes/baselines. However, regions/terranes that were shaped and affected by glaciers during the last Ice Ages and are covered by glaciogenic sediments present a challenge with regards to the choice of suitable surface proxy archives. Recent studies proposed that only 87Sr/86Sr signatures from pristine areas are relevant for this purpose. To test this theory, 160 new Sr concentrations [Sr] and 87Sr/86Sr signatures composed from ~960 subsamples of soil leachates and plants, complemented with 55 surface waters from agriculturally unaffected pristine forest sites from all over Denmark (island of Bornholm excluded) were analyzed. The results reveal that average 87Sr/86Sr signatures of all three proxies (plants: 0.7115 ± 0.0025; 2σ, n = 162; soil leachates: 0.7118 ± 0.0037; 2σ; n = 161, surface waters: 0.7104 ± 0.0030; 2σ, n = 55) are elevated compared to larger water bodies (creeks, rivers, lakes). In mixing diagrams, the data converge in a shared high [Sr] low 87Sr/86Sr endmember, which points to either remnant natural carbonates and/or organic components retaining carbonate Sr in the studied Podzols/Luvisols. The indications for more abundant carbonates in the past, compared to today's acid leached soils, implies that 87Sr/86Sr values measured from pristine forest locations and heathlands do not adequately reflect the biosphere compositions that prevailed ~12,000-2000 thousand years ago. Consequently, pristine forests in Denmark seem to be unsuitable proxy archive environments for constructing Sr isotope baselines for determining the provenance and mobility of ancient humans and animals. Hence, 87Sr/86Sr values measured in these pristine areas are non-representative and inadequate, and their use will lead to wrong interpretations. Finally, our study sheds light on the complexity of defining relevant and representative isoscapes/baselines in significantly changing environments and areas where the surface biosphere conditions do not necessary reflect the underlying geology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Frei
- Department of Geoscience and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
| | - Anja B Frank
- Department of Research, Collections and Conservation, Environmental Archaeology and Materials Science, National Museum of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby DK-2800, Denmark
| | - Karin M Frei
- Department of Research, Collections and Conservation, Environmental Archaeology and Materials Science, National Museum of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby DK-2800, Denmark
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Millets and Cereal Meals from the Early Iron Age Underwater Settlement of “Gran Carro” (Bolsena Lake, Central Italy). SUSTAINABILITY 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/su14073941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Archeobotanical materials recovered from pottery vessels originating from the underwater archeological site of “Gran Carro”, located in Central Italy on the shore of Bolsena Lake, were analyzed to obtain new insight into the agricultural habits present in this Iron Age settlement. The archeobotanical study of cereal remains was combined with analytical data obtained from an amorphous organic residue using optical microscopy, SEM-EDS, ATR/FT-IR and Py-GC/MS. The cereal remains of emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), and foxtail millet (Setaria italica) were identified as the preferred crops used for food and/or fodder at the site. The presence of charred millets, which have been directly dated by AMS, confirms consumption at the site and adds to the little-known background of millet use in central Italy. The find of millets in a perilacustrine pile-dwelling during a period when the water level of the Bolsena Lake was several meters lower than at present, attesting to a general dry period, suggests that the cultivation of millets, complementing more productive crops of wheat and barley, may have been favored by the availability of a large seasonally dry coastal plain, characterized by poor and sandy soils unsuitable for more demanding cereals.
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Rodiouchkina K, Rodushkin I, Goderis S, Vanhaecke F. Longitudinal isotope ratio variations in human hair and nails. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 808:152059. [PMID: 34863743 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2021] [Revised: 11/19/2021] [Accepted: 11/25/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Due to the straightforward and non-invasive sampling, ease of transport and long-term storage and access to time-resolved information, determination of element concentrations and isotope ratios in hair and nails finds increasing use. Multi-isotopic information preserved in keratinous tissues allows one to reveal dietary, physiological and environmental influences, but progress in this area is still limited by complicated and time-consuming analytical procedures and challenges in accuracy assessment. In this study, longitudinal distributions of δ34S, 87Sr/86Sr, 207,208Pb/206Pb, δ66Zn, δ56Fe, δ65Cu, δ26Mg, and δ114Cd were obtained for hair and nails collected from nine subjects with different age, biological sex, diet and/or place of residence. For S and Zn, the distribution along hair strands revealed a trend towards a heavier isotopic signature from the proximal to the distal end, with a maximum difference within the hair of a single subject of 1.2‰ (Δ34S) and 0.4‰ (Δ66Zn). For Fe, Cu, Mg and Cd, a shift towards either a lighter (Cu) or heavier (Fe, Mg and Cd) isotopic composition is accompanied by increasing concentration towards the distal hair end, indicating possible isotope fractionation during deposition or external contamination with a different isotopic composition. Pb and Sr isotope ratios are relatively stable throughout the hair strands despite notable concentration increases towards the distal end, likely reflecting external contamination. The isotopic composition of Sr points to tap water as a probable main source, explaining the relative stability of the ratio for individuals from the same geographical location. For Pb, isotopic compositions suggest tap water and/or indoor dust as possible sources. Similar δ34S, 87Sr/86Sr, 207,208Pb/206Pb, δ66Zn, δ56Fe, and δ65Cu observed for hair, fingernails and toenails sampled from the same individual suggest that keratinous tissues are conservative receivers of internal and external inputs and can be used complementary. Seasonal variation in δ34S, 207,208Pb/206Pb, and δ65Cu was observed for fingernails.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katerina Rodiouchkina
- Ghent University, Department of Chemistry, Atomic and Mass Spectrometry (A&MS) research group, Campus Sterre, Krijgslaan 281 - S12, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Ilia Rodushkin
- ALS Scandinavia AB, ALS Laboratory Group, Aurorum 10, S-977 75 Luleå, Sweden
| | - Steven Goderis
- Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Department of Chemistry, Analytical, Environmental and Geo-Chemistry (AMGC) research group, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Frank Vanhaecke
- Ghent University, Department of Chemistry, Atomic and Mass Spectrometry (A&MS) research group, Campus Sterre, Krijgslaan 281 - S12, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
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Interglobular dentine attributed to vitamin D deficiency visible in cremated human teeth. Sci Rep 2021; 11:20958. [PMID: 34697324 PMCID: PMC8545959 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-00380-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2021] [Accepted: 10/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Vitamin D deficiency has hugely impacted the health of past societies. Its identification in skeletal remains provides insights into the daily activities, cultural habits, and the disease load of past populations. However, up till now, this approach remained impossible in cremated bones, because temperatures reached during cremations destroyed all macroscopic evidence of vitamin D deficiency. This precluded the analyses of a large fraction of the archaeological record, as cremation was an important burial ritual from the Late Neolithic until the Early Medieval period in Europe. Here, the identification of interglobular dentine (IGD), a dental mineralisation defect attributed to vitamin D deficiency, in experimentally burnt teeth, demonstrates this deficiency to be observable in human teeth burned to temperatures as high as 900 °C. In most cases, it becomes even possible to assess the ages-of-occurrence as well as the severity of the IGD and possibly vitamin D deficiency intensity. This study represents a major step forward in the fields of biological anthropology, archaeology, and palaeopathology by opening up a variety of new possibilities for the study of health and activities related to sunlight exposure of numerous past populations that practiced cremation as their funerary ritual.
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Frank AB, Frei R, Moutafi I, Voutsaki S, Orgeolet R, Kristiansen K, Frei KM. The geographic distribution of bioavailable strontium isotopes in Greece - A base for provenance studies in archaeology. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 791:148156. [PMID: 34126477 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2021] [Revised: 05/04/2021] [Accepted: 05/27/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Sr isotopes are a powerful tool used to reconstruct human mobility in archaeology. This requires extensive bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr baselines used as reference for deciphering potential areas of origin. We define the first extensive bioavailable Sr isotope baselines for the different geographical regions and surface lithologies of Greece by combining new Sr data with previously published bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr data. We present 82 new Sr concentrations and 87Sr/86Sr signatures of plants, soil leachates, surface waters and spring waters from Central Greece and combine these with published baseline values from all over Greece. We define individual baselines for ten of the thirteen geographical regions of Greece. We also provide soil leachate 87Sr/86Sr ratios from the two archaeological Bronze Age sites of Kirrha and Ayios Vasileios in Central and Southern Greece and demonstrate the validity and applicability of the new baselines for these sites. The bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr compositions of Central Greece define a narrow range of 87Sr/86Sr values between 0.70768 - 0.71021, with the widest range observed for the soil leachates. Sr derived from carbonate weathering appears to be the most important Sr source sampled by the proxies. There is an overall larger variability in baseline ranges of the different geographical regions, the narrowest is that for West Greece and the widest that for West Macedonia. In addition, we computed statistical Sr isotope ranges for the five main surface lithological groups characterising the sampling sites of the various proxies. Narrowly ranged, unradiogenic bioavailable Sr isotope signatures are typical of areas characterised by igneous outcrops as well as by Cenozoic and Mesozoic sediments. Areas, where Palaeozoic and Precambrian bedrock outcrops dominate, produce significantly wider ranges. Our study promotes the usefulness of multi-proxy baselines for geographical reference purposes and thus their promising applicability for future human mobility studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anja B Frank
- Department of Research, Collections and Conservation, Environmental Archaeology and Materials Science, National Museum of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby DK 2800, Denmark.
| | - Robert Frei
- Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, DK, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
| | - Ioanna Moutafi
- McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK, CB2 3ER Cambridge, United Kingdom; The M.H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Souidias 54, 10676 Athens, Greece
| | - Sofia Voutsaki
- Groningen Institute of Archaeology, University of Groningen, NL-9712, ER Groningen, Netherlands.
| | - Raphaël Orgeolet
- Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, Centre Camille Jullian, Aix-en-Provence, France; École française d'Athènes, Athens, Greece
| | - Kristian Kristiansen
- Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, SE, 41255 Gothenburg, Sweden.
| | - Karin M Frei
- Department of Research, Collections and Conservation, Environmental Archaeology and Materials Science, National Museum of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby DK 2800, Denmark.
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Cavazzuti C, Hajdu T, Lugli F, Sperduti A, Vicze M, Horváth A, Major I, Molnár M, Palcsu L, Kiss V. Human mobility in a Bronze Age Vatya 'urnfield' and the life history of a high-status woman. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0254360. [PMID: 34319991 PMCID: PMC8318297 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2020] [Accepted: 06/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
In this study, we present osteological and strontium isotope data of 29 individuals (26 cremations and 3 inhumations) from Szigetszentmiklós-Ürgehegy, one of the largest Middle Bronze Age cemeteries in Hungary. The site is located in the northern part of the Csepel Island (a few kilometres south of Budapest) and was in use between c. 2150 and 1500 BC, a period that saw the rise, the apogee, and, ultimately, the collapse of the Vatya culture in the plains of Central Hungary. The main aim of our study was to identify variation in mobility patterns among individuals of different sex/age/social status and among individuals treated with different burial rites using strontium isotope analysis. Changes in funerary rituals in Hungary have traditionally been associated with the crises of the tell cultures and the introgression of newcomers from the area of the Tumulus Culture in Central Europe around 1500 BC. Our results show only slight discrepancies between inhumations and cremations, as well as differences between adult males and females. The case of the richly furnished grave n. 241 is of particular interest. The urn contains the cremated bones of an adult woman and two 7 to 8-month-old foetuses, as well as remarkably prestigious goods. Using 87Sr/86Sr analysis of different dental and skeletal remains, which form in different life stages, we were able to reconstruct the potential movements of this high-status woman over almost her entire lifetime, from birth to her final days. Our study confirms the informative potential of strontium isotopes analyses performed on different cremated tissues. From a more general, historical perspective, our results reinforce the idea that exogamic practices were common in Bronze Age Central Europe and that kinship ties among high-rank individuals were probably functional in establishing or strengthening interconnections, alliances, and economic partnerships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudio Cavazzuti
- Dipartimento di Storia Culture Civiltà, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italia
- Archaeology Department, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom
| | - Tamás Hajdu
- Department of Biological Anthropology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
- Department of Anthropology, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Federico Lugli
- Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Ravenna, Italy
- Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
| | - Alessandra Sperduti
- Museo delle Civiltà, Sezione di Bioarcheologia, Rome, Italy
- University of Napoli “L’Orientale”, Naples, Italy
| | | | - Aniko Horváth
- ICER Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - István Major
- ICER Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Mihály Molnár
- ICER Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - László Palcsu
- ICER Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Viktória Kiss
- Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence, Budapest, Hungary
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Ingman T, Eisenmann S, Skourtanioti E, Akar M, Ilgner J, Gnecchi Ruscone GA, le Roux P, Shafiq R, Neumann GU, Keller M, Freund C, Marzo S, Lucas M, Krause J, Roberts P, Yener KA, Stockhammer PW. Human mobility at Tell Atchana (Alalakh), Hatay, Turkey during the 2nd millennium BC: Integration of isotopic and genomic evidence. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0241883. [PMID: 34191795 PMCID: PMC8244877 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241883] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2020] [Accepted: 05/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The Middle and Late Bronze Age, a period roughly spanning the 2nd millennium BC (ca. 2000–1200 BC) in the Near East, is frequently referred to as the first ‘international age’, characterized by intense and far-reaching contacts between different entities from the eastern Mediterranean to the Near East and beyond. In a large-scale tandem study of stable isotopes and ancient DNA of individuals excavated at Tell Atchana (Alalakh, located in Hatay, Turkey), we explored the role of mobility at the capital of a regional kingdom, named Mukish during the Late Bronze Age, which spanned the Amuq Valley and some areas beyond. We generated strontium and oxygen isotope data from dental enamel for 53 individuals and 77 individuals, respectively, and added ancient DNA data of 10 newly sequenced individuals to a dataset of 27 individuals published in 2020. Additionally, we improved the DNA coverage of one individual from this 2020 dataset. The DNA data revealed a very homogeneous gene pool. This picture of an overwhelmingly local ancestry was consistent with the evidence of local upbringing in most of the individuals indicated by the isotopic data, where only five were found to be non-local. High levels of contact, trade, and exchange of ideas and goods in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, therefore, seem not to have translated into high levels of individual mobility detectable at Tell Atchana.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tara Ingman
- Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED), Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey
- * E-mail: (TI); (SE); (KAY); (PWS)
| | - Stefanie Eisenmann
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- * E-mail: (TI); (SE); (KAY); (PWS)
| | - Eirini Skourtanioti
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Murat Akar
- Department of Archaeology, Mustafa Kemal University, Alahan-Antakya, Hatay, Turkey
| | - Jana Ilgner
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | | | - Petrus le Roux
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
| | - Rula Shafiq
- Anthropology Department, Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Gunnar U. Neumann
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Marcel Keller
- Estonian Biocentre, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Cäcilia Freund
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Sara Marzo
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Mary Lucas
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Johannes Krause
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - K. Aslıhan Yener
- Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW), New York University, New York, NY, United States of America
- * E-mail: (TI); (SE); (KAY); (PWS)
| | - Philipp W. Stockhammer
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Institute for Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology and Archaeology of the Roman Provinces, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
- * E-mail: (TI); (SE); (KAY); (PWS)
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13
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Santana J, Millard A, Ibáñez-Estevez JJ, Bocquentin F, Nowell G, Peterkin J, Macpherson C, Muñiz J, Anton M, Alrousan M, Kafafi Z. Multi-isotope evidence of population aggregation in the Natufian and scant migration during the early Neolithic of the Southern Levant. Sci Rep 2021; 11:11857. [PMID: 34088922 PMCID: PMC8178372 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-90795-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2020] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Human mobility and migration are thought to have played essential roles in the consolidation and expansion of sedentary villages, long-distance exchanges and transmission of ideas and practices during the Neolithic transition of the Near East. Few isotopic studies of human remains dating to this early complex transition offer direct evidence of mobility and migration. The aim of this study is to identify first-generation non-local individuals from Natufian to Pre-Pottery Neolithic C periods to explore the scope of human mobility and migration during the Neolithic transition in the Southern Levant, an area that is central to this historical process. The study adopted a multi-approach resorting to strontium (87Sr/86Sr), oxygen (δ18OVSMOW) and carbon (δ13C) isotope ratio analyses of tooth enamel of 67 human individuals from five sites in Jordan, Syria, and Israel. The isotope ratios point both to a significant level of human migration and/or mobility in the Final Natufian which is compatible with early sedentarism and seasonal mobility and with population aggregation in early sedentary hamlets. The current findings, in turn, offer evidence that most individuals dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic were local to their respective settlements despite certain evidence of non-locals. Interestingly, isotopic data suggest that two possible non-local individuals benefitted from particular burial practices. The results underscore a decrease in human mobility and migration as farming became increasingly dominant among the subsistence strategies throughout the Neolithic transition of the Southern Levant.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Santana
- grid.8250.f0000 0000 8700 0572Department of Archaeology, Durham University, Durham, UK ,grid.4521.20000 0004 1769 9380G.I. Tarha, Departamento de Ciencias Históricas, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, Spain
| | - Andrew Millard
- grid.8250.f0000 0000 8700 0572Department of Archaeology, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - Juan J. Ibáñez-Estevez
- grid.483414.e0000 0001 2097 4142Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Institución Milá y Fontanals, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Fanny Bocquentin
- grid.463799.60000 0001 2326 1930Cogitamus Laboratory and CNRS, UMR 7041, ArScAn, Equipe Ethnologie Préhistorique, MSH Mondes, Nanterre, France
| | - Geoffrey Nowell
- grid.8250.f0000 0000 8700 0572Department of Earth Science, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - Joanne Peterkin
- grid.8250.f0000 0000 8700 0572Department of Earth Science, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - Colin Macpherson
- grid.8250.f0000 0000 8700 0572Department of Earth Science, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - Juan Muñiz
- Pontificia Facultad de San Esteban de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
| | - Marie Anton
- grid.10988.380000 0001 2173 743XUniversité Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France ,grid.4444.00000 0001 2112 9282CNRS, UMR 7206, Musée de l’Homme, Éco-Anthropologie et Ethnologie, Paris, France
| | - Mohammad Alrousan
- grid.14440.350000 0004 0622 5497Department of Anthropology, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan
| | - Zeidan Kafafi
- grid.14440.350000 0004 0622 5497Department of Archaeology, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan
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14
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Reiter SS, Møller NA, Nielsen BH, Bech JH, Olsen ALH, Jørkov MLS, Kaul F, Mannering U, Frei KM. Into the fire: Investigating the introduction of cremation to Nordic Bronze Age Denmark: A comparative study between different regions applying strontium isotope analyses and archaeological methods. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0249476. [PMID: 33979332 PMCID: PMC8115792 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249476] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2020] [Accepted: 03/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Changes in funerary practices are key to the understanding of social transformations of past societies. Over the course of the Nordic Bronze Age, funerary practices changed from inhumation to cremation. The aim of this study is to shed light on this fundamental change through a cross-examination of archaeometric provenance data and archaeological discussions of the context and layouts of early cremation graves. To this end, we conducted 19 new provenance analyses of strontium isotopes from Early Nordic Bronze age contexts in Thisted County and Zealand and Late Bronze Age contexts from Thisted County and Vesthimmerland (Denmark). These data are subsequently compared with data from other extant relevant studies, including those from Late Bronze Age Fraugde on the Danish island of Fyn. Overall, the variations within our provenience data suggest that the integration and establishment of cremation may not have had a one-to-one relationship with in-migration to Nordic Bronze Age Denmark. Moreover, there seems to be no single blanket scenario which dictated the uptake of cremation as a practice within this part of Southern Scandinavia. By addressing habitus in relation to the deposition of cremations as juxtaposed with these provenance data¸ we hypothesize several potential pathways for the uptake of cremation as a new cultural practice within the Danish Nordic Bronze Age and suggest that this may have been a highly individual process, whose tempo may have been dictated by the specificities of the region(s) concerned.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha S. Reiter
- Department of Environmental Archaeology and Materials Science, The National Museum of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby (Brede), Denmark
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Flemming Kaul
- Department of Ancient Cultures of Denmark and the Mediterranean, The National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ulla Mannering
- Department of Ancient Cultures of Denmark and the Mediterranean, The National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Karin M. Frei
- Department of Environmental Archaeology and Materials Science, The National Museum of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby (Brede), Denmark
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15
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Colleter R, Bataille CP, Dabernat H, Pichot D, Hamon P, Duchesne S, Labaune-Jean F, Jean S, Le Cloirec G, Milano S, Trost M, Steinbrenner S, Marchal M, Guilbeau-Frugier C, Telmon N, Crubézy É, Jaouen K. The last battle of Anne of Brittany: Solving mass grave through an interdisciplinary approach (paleopathology, biological anthropology, history, multiple isotopes and radiocarbon dating). PLoS One 2021; 16:e0248086. [PMID: 33951047 PMCID: PMC8099129 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2021] [Accepted: 04/06/2021] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Mass graves are usually key historical markers with strong incentive for archeological investigations. The identification of individuals buried in mass graves has long benefitted from traditional historical, archaeological, anthropological and paleopathological techniques. The addition of novel methods including genetic, genomic and isotopic geochemistry have renewed interest in solving unidentified mass graves. In this study, we demonstrate that the combined use of these techniques allows the identification of the individuals found in two Breton historical mass graves, where one method alone would not have revealed the importance of this discovery. The skeletons likely belong to soldiers from the two enemy armies who fought during a major event of Breton history: the siege of Rennes in 1491, which ended by the wedding of the Duchess of Brittany with the King of France and signaled the end of the independence of the region. Our study highlights the value of interdisciplinary approaches with a particular emphasis on increasingly accurate isotopic markers. The development of the sulfur isoscape and testing of the triple isotope geographic assignment are detailed in a companion paper [13].
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Affiliation(s)
- Rozenn Colleter
- INRAP (Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives), Cesson-Sévigné, France
- CNRS, CAGT, UMR 5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 31000, Toulouse, France
| | - Clément P. Bataille
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
- Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
| | - Henri Dabernat
- CNRS, CAGT, UMR 5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 31000, Toulouse, France
| | | | | | - Sylvie Duchesne
- INRAP (Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives), Cesson-Sévigné, France
- CNRS, CAGT, UMR 5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 31000, Toulouse, France
| | - Françoise Labaune-Jean
- INRAP (Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives), Cesson-Sévigné, France
- CNRS, CReAAH, UMR 6566, Rennes, France
| | - Stéphane Jean
- INRAP (Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives), Cesson-Sévigné, France
| | - Gaétan Le Cloirec
- INRAP (Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives), Cesson-Sévigné, France
- CNRS, CReAAH, UMR 6566, Rennes, France
| | - Stefania Milano
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Evolution, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Manuel Trost
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Evolution, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sven Steinbrenner
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Evolution, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Marine Marchal
- CNRS, CAGT, UMR 5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 31000, Toulouse, France
| | - Céline Guilbeau-Frugier
- I2MC, Université de Toulouse, INSERM U1048, 31432, Toulouse, France
- Department of Forensic Medicine, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
- Faculté de Médecine Rangueil, CMEAB, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
| | - Norbert Telmon
- CNRS, CAGT, UMR 5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 31000, Toulouse, France
- Department of Forensic Medicine, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
| | - Éric Crubézy
- CNRS, CAGT, UMR 5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 31000, Toulouse, France
| | - Klervia Jaouen
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Evolution, Leipzig, Germany
- CNRS, GET UMR 5563, Observatoire Midi Pyrénées, Toulouse, France
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16
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First Bronze Age Human Mitogenomes from Calabria (Grotta Della Monaca, Southern Italy). Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:genes12050636. [PMID: 33922908 PMCID: PMC8146030 DOI: 10.3390/genes12050636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2021] [Revised: 04/02/2021] [Accepted: 04/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The Italian peninsula was host to a strong history of migration processes that shaped its genomic variability since prehistoric times. During the Metal Age, Sicily and Southern Italy were the protagonists of intense trade networks and settlements along the Mediterranean. Nonetheless, ancient DNA studies in Southern Italy are, at present, still limited to prehistoric and Roman Apulia. Here, we present the first mitogenomes from a Middle Bronze Age cave burial in Calabria to address this knowledge gap. We adopted a hybridization capture approach, which enabled the recovery of one complete and one partial mitochondrial genome. Phylogenetic analysis assigned these two individuals to the H1e and H5 subhaplogroups, respectively. This preliminary phylogenetic analysis supports affinities with coeval Sicilian populations, along with Linearbandkeramik and Bell Beaker cultures maternal lineages from Central Europe and Iberia. Our work represents a starting point which contributes to the comprehension of migrations and population dynamics in Southern Italy, and highlights this knowledge gap yet to be filled by genomic studies.
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17
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Ladegaard-Pedersen P, Sabatini S, Frei R, Kristiansen K, Frei KM. Testing Late Bronze Age mobility in southern Sweden in the light of a new multi-proxy strontium isotope baseline of Scania. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0250279. [PMID: 33882110 PMCID: PMC8059841 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2020] [Accepted: 04/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The Bronze Age of Sweden’s southernmost region, Scania, is complex and intriguing. One could say that Scania represented in many ways a gateway for people, ideas and material culture connecting continental Europe with Sweden. Shedding light on the dynamics of human mobility in this region requires an in depth understanding of the local archaeological contexts across time. In this study, we present new archaeological human data from the Late Bronze Age Simris II site, located in an area of Scania showing a dynamic environment throughout the Late Bronze Age, thus likely involving various forms of mobility. Because the characterization of solid strontium isotope baselines is vital for delineating human mobility in prehistory using the strontium isotope methodology, we introduce the first environmentally based multi-proxy (surface water-, plant- and soil leachates) strontium isotope baselines for sub-regions of Scania. Our results show, that the highly complex and spatially scattered lithologies characterising Scania does not allow for a spatially meaningful, geology-based grouping of multi-proxy data that could be beneficial for provenance studies. Instead, we propose sub-regional baselines for areas that don’t necessarily fully correspond and reflect the immediate distribution of bedrock lithologies. Rather than working with a Scania-wide multi-proxy baseline, which we define as 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7133 ± 0.0059 (n = 102, 2σ), we propose sub-regional, multi-proxy baselines as follows: Area 1, farthest to the north, by 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7184 ± 0.0061 (n = 16, 2σ); Area 2, comprising the mid and western part of Scania, with 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7140 ± 0.0043 (n = 48, 2σ); Area 3–4, roughly corresponding to a NW-SE trending zone dominated by horst-graben tectonics across Scania, plus the carbonate dominated south western part of Scania with 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7110 ± 0.0030 (n = 39, 2σ). Our results also reflect that the complexity of the geology of Scania requires systematic, high density, statistically sound sampling of multiple proxies to adequately constrain the baseline ranges, particularly of those areas dominated by Precambrian lithologies. The averaging effect of biosphere Sr in surface water might be beneficial for the characterization of baselines in such terranes. Our sub-regional, area-specific baselines allow for a first comparison of different baseline construction strategies (single-proxy versus multi-proxy; Scania-wide versus sub-regional). From the Late Bronze Age Simris II site, we identified six individuals that could be analysed for Sr isotopes, to allow for an interpretation of their provenance using the newly established, environmental strontium isotope baselines. All but one signature agrees with the local baselines, including the 87Sr/86Sr value we measured for a young individual buried in a house urn, typically interpreted as evidence for long distance contacts. The results are somewhat unexpected and provides new aspects into the complexity of Scandinavian Bronze Age societies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Serena Sabatini
- Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Robert Frei
- Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Kristian Kristiansen
- Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Globe Institute, Lundbeck Foundation, GeoGenetics Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark
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18
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Masclans A, Hamon C, Jeunesse C, Bickle P. A sexual division of labour at the start of agriculture? A multi-proxy comparison through grave good stone tool technological and use-wear analysis. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0249130. [PMID: 33852570 PMCID: PMC8046253 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2020] [Accepted: 03/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
This work demonstrates the importance of integrating sexual division of labour into the research of the transition to the Neolithic and its social implications. During the spread of the Neolithic in Europe, when migration led to the dispersal of domesticated plants and animals, novel tasks and tools, appear in the archaeological record. By examining the use-wear traces from over 400 stone tools from funerary contexts of the earliest Neolithic in central Europe we provide insights into what tasks could have been carried out by women and men. The results of this analysis are then examined for statistically significant correlations with the osteological, isotopic and other grave good data, informing on sexed-based differences in diet, mobility and symbolism. Our data demonstrate males were buried with stone tools used for woodwork, and butchery, hunting or interpersonal violence, while women with those for the working of animal skins, expanding the range of tasks known to have been carried out. The results also show variation along an east-west cline from Slovakia to eastern France, suggesting that the sexual division of labour (or at least its representation in death) changed as farming spread westwards.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alba Masclans
- Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Institució Milà i Fontanals, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Barcelona, Spain
- * E-mail:
| | - Caroline Hamon
- UMR 8215 Trajectoires, French National Centre for Scientific Research, Nanterre, France
| | | | - Penny Bickle
- Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, United Kingdom
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19
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Veselka B, Locher H, de Groot JCMJ, Davies GR, Snoeck C, Kootker LM. Strontium isotope ratios related to childhood mobility: Revisiting sampling strategies of the calcined human pars petrosa ossis temporalis. RAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY : RCM 2021; 35:e9038. [PMID: 33370492 DOI: 10.1002/rcm.9038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2020] [Revised: 11/30/2020] [Accepted: 12/24/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
RATIONALE Strontium isotope analysis can be applied to the calcined human otic capsule in the petrous part (pars petrosa ossis temporalis; PP) to gain information on childhood mobility in archaeological and forensic contexts. However, only a thin layer of the otic capsule, the inner cortex, demonstrates virtually no remodelling. This paper proposes an improved sampling method for the accurate sampling of the inner cortex of the otic capsule to ensure that 87 Sr/86 Sr ratios related to early childhood are obtained. METHODS Calcined rib and diaphyseal fragments and PP from ten cremation deposits are sampled for strontium isotope analysis, whereby our improved sampling strategy is applied to sample the inner cortex of the otic capsule. This allows inter- and intraskeletal 87 Sr/86 Sr comparison within an Iron Age collection from Oss, The Netherlands. RESULTS Forty percent (4/10) of the calcined PP that were evaluated for this study show marked differences in 87 Sr/86 Sr (0.00035-0.00065) between the inner cortex and the bone sample surrounding this layer, the external cortex that has higher remodelling rates. Differences in 87 Sr/86 Sr between various skeletal elements also aided in the identification of the minimum number of individuals. CONCLUSIONS Our study demonstrates the problematic nature of the external cortex and stresses the need for a precise sampling method of the correct areas of the otic capsule. This can only be obtained by cutting the calcined PP midmodiolarly to enable adequate combustion degree assessment, and the correct identification and sampling of the inner cortex of the otic capsule.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Veselka
- Maritime Cultures Research Institute, Department of Arts, Sciences, and Archaeology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
| | - Heiko Locher
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands
| | - John C M J de Groot
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands
| | - Gareth R Davies
- Geology and Geochemistry Cluster, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Co van Ledden Hulsebosch Center (CLHC), The Netherlands
| | - Christophe Snoeck
- Maritime Cultures Research Institute, Department of Arts, Sciences, and Archaeology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
- Analytical, Environmental and Geo-Chemistry Research Unit, Department of Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
- G-time Laboratory, Department of Geoscience, Environment, and Society, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
| | - Lisette M Kootker
- Geology and Geochemistry Cluster, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Co van Ledden Hulsebosch Center (CLHC), The Netherlands
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20
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Exploring mobility in Italian Neolithic and Copper Age communities. Sci Rep 2021; 11:2697. [PMID: 33514802 PMCID: PMC7846752 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-81656-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2020] [Accepted: 01/04/2021] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
As a means for investigating human mobility during late the Neolithic to the Copper Age in central and southern Italy, this study presents a novel dataset of enamel oxygen and carbon isotope values (δ18Oca and δ13Cca) from the carbonate fraction of biogenic apatite for one hundred and twenty-six individual teeth coming from two Neolithic and eight Copper Age communities. The measured δ18Oca values suggest a significant role of local sources in the water inputs to the body water, whereas δ13Cca values indicate food resources, principally based on C3 plants. Both δ13Cca and δ18Oca ranges vary substantially when samples are broken down into local populations. Statistically defined thresholds, accounting for intra-site variability, allow the identification of only a few outliers in the eight Copper Age communities, suggesting that sedentary lifestyle rather than extensive mobility characterized the investigated populations. This seems to be also typical of the two studied Neolithic communities. Overall, this research shows that the investigated periods in peninsular Italy differed in mobility pattern from the following Bronze Age communities from more northern areas.
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21
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Trentacoste A, Nieto-Espinet A, Guimarães S, Wilkens B, Petrucci G, Valenzuela-Lamas S. New trajectories or accelerating change? Zooarchaeological evidence for Roman transformation of animal husbandry in Northern Italy. ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES 2021; 13:25. [PMID: 33520005 PMCID: PMC7810668 DOI: 10.1007/s12520-020-01251-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2020] [Accepted: 12/01/2020] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED Throughout the Western provinces of the Roman Empire, greater economic and political connectivity had a major impact on agricultural production, which grew in scale and specialisation after integration with the Roman state. However, uniquely in Western Europe, farming strategies in Italy began to evolve centuries before the Roman conquest, and many 'Roman' patterns associated with livestock size and the relative proportions of different taxa first emerged during the early and middle centuries of the first millennium BC. These changes imply a significant reorganisation of production strategies well before Roman hegemony, even in relatively marginal areas of Italy. Zooarchaeological studies have documented further significant changes to livestock production in Roman times, but the relationship between these developments and earlier trends remains unclear. Through analysis of zooarchaeological data for species representation and livestock biometry from lowland northern Italy (Po-Friulian Plain), this study investigates animal exploitation between the Bronze Age and Late Antiquity in order to characterise the influence of Roman political and economic organisation on animal husbandry. Results demonstrated subregional variation in species representation, and different trajectories in the biometric evolution of cattle, sheep and goats, compared to pigs. Initial steps established in the Iron Age towards a more complex and dynamic livestock economy were accelerated and further reconfigured in Roman times, facilitated by Roman economic organisation and the specialised and large-scale production systems within it. Zooarchaeological trends continued to progress over the Roman period, until further changes at the very end of the chronology considered here-around the sixth century AD-suggest another wave of change. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12520-020-01251-7.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ariadna Nieto-Espinet
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Institució Milà i Fontanals, Archaeology of Social Dynamics, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Silvia Guimarães
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Institució Milà i Fontanals, Archaeology of Social Dynamics, Barcelona, Spain
- CIBIO-InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal
| | | | | | - Silvia Valenzuela-Lamas
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Institució Milà i Fontanals, Archaeology of Social Dynamics, Barcelona, Spain
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22
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Croix S, Frei KM, Sindbæk SM, Søvsø M. Individual geographic mobility in a Viking-Age emporium-Burial practices and strontium isotope analyses of Ribe's earliest inhabitants. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0237850. [PMID: 32853240 PMCID: PMC7451598 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237850] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2020] [Accepted: 08/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Individual geographic mobility is a key social dynamic of early Viking-Age urbanization in Scandinavia. We present the first comprehensive geographic mobility study of Scandinavia’s earliest emporium, Ribe, which emerged around AD 700 in the North Sea region of Denmark. This article presents the results of strontium isotope analyses of 21 individuals buried at Ribe, combined with an in-depth study of the varied cultural affinities reflected by the burial practices. In order to investigate geographic mobility in early life/childhood, we sampled multiple teeth and/or petrous bone of individuals, which yielded a total of 43 strontium isotope analyses. Most individuals yielded strontium isotope values that fell within a relatively narrow range, between 87Sr/86Sr = 0.709 to 0.711. Only two individuals yielded values >87Sr/86Sr = 0.711. This suggests that most of these individuals had local origins but some had cultural affinities beyond present-day Denmark. Our results raise new questions concerning our understanding of the social and cultural dynamics behind the urbanization of Scandinavia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Croix
- Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet), School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Højbjerg, Denmark
- * E-mail:
| | | | - Søren Michael Sindbæk
- Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet), School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Højbjerg, Denmark
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23
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Filipović D, Meadows J, Corso MD, Kirleis W, Alsleben A, Akeret Ö, Bittmann F, Bosi G, Ciută B, Dreslerová D, Effenberger H, Gyulai F, Heiss AG, Hellmund M, Jahns S, Jakobitsch T, Kapcia M, Klooß S, Kohler-Schneider M, Kroll H, Makarowicz P, Marinova E, Märkle T, Medović A, Mercuri AM, Mueller-Bieniek A, Nisbet R, Pashkevich G, Perego R, Pokorný P, Pospieszny Ł, Przybyła M, Reed K, Rennwanz J, Stika HP, Stobbe A, Tolar T, Wasylikowa K, Wiethold J, Zerl T. New AMS 14C dates track the arrival and spread of broomcorn millet cultivation and agricultural change in prehistoric Europe. Sci Rep 2020; 10:13698. [PMID: 32792561 PMCID: PMC7426858 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-70495-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2020] [Accepted: 07/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is not one of the founder crops domesticated in Southwest Asia in the early Holocene, but was domesticated in northeast China by 6000 BC. In Europe, millet was reported in Early Neolithic contexts formed by 6000 BC, but recent radiocarbon dating of a dozen 'early' grains cast doubt on these claims. Archaeobotanical evidence reveals that millet was common in Europe from the 2nd millennium BC, when major societal and economic transformations took place in the Bronze Age. We conducted an extensive programme of AMS-dating of charred broomcorn millet grains from 75 prehistoric sites in Europe. Our Bayesian model reveals that millet cultivation began in Europe at the earliest during the sixteenth century BC, and spread rapidly during the fifteenth/fourteenth centuries BC. Broomcorn millet succeeds in exceptionally wide range of growing conditions and completes its lifecycle in less than three summer months. Offering an additional harvest and thus surplus food/fodder, it likely was a transformative innovation in European prehistoric agriculture previously based mainly on (winter) cropping of wheat and barley. We provide a new, high-resolution chronological framework for this key agricultural development that likely contributed to far-reaching changes in lifestyle in late 2nd millennium BC Europe.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dragana Filipović
- Institute for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, Kiel University, Johanna-Mestorf-Str. 2-6, 24118, Kiel, Germany.
| | - John Meadows
- Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology (ZBSA), Schleswig-Holstein State Museums Foundation, Schloss Gottorf, 24837, Schleswig, Germany.
- Leibniz-Laboratory for AMS Dating and Stable Isotope Research, Kiel University, Max-Eyth-Str. 11-13, 24118, Kiel, Germany.
| | - Marta Dal Corso
- Institute for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, Kiel University, Johanna-Mestorf-Str. 2-6, 24118, Kiel, Germany
| | - Wiebke Kirleis
- Institute for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, Kiel University, Johanna-Mestorf-Str. 2-6, 24118, Kiel, Germany
| | - Almuth Alsleben
- Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 2, 55131, Mainz, Germany
| | - Örni Akeret
- Integrative Prähistorische und Naturwissenschaftliche Archäologie IPNA, Basel University, Spalenring 145, 4055, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Felix Bittmann
- Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research, Viktoriastraße 26/28, 26382, Wilhelmshaven, Germany
| | - Giovanna Bosi
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Giuseppe Campi 287, 41125, Modena, Italy
| | - Beatrice Ciută
- Facultatea de Istorie şi Filologie, Universitatea "1 Decembrie 1918" Alba Iulia, Strada Unirii 15-17, 510009, Alba Iulia, Romania
| | - Dagmar Dreslerová
- Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Letenská 4, 118 01, Praha 1, Czech Republic
| | | | - Ferenc Gyulai
- Department of Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology, Szent István University, Páter Károly utca 1, Gödöllő, 2103, Hungary
| | - Andreas G Heiss
- Austrian Archaeological Institute (ÖAI), Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Franz Klein-Gasse 1, 1190, Vienna, Austria
| | - Monika Hellmund
- Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt-Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, Richard-Wagner-Str. 9, 06114, Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Susanne Jahns
- Brandenburgisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologisches Landesmuseum Ortsteil Wünsdorf, Wünsdorfer Platz 4-5, 15806, Zossen, Germany
| | - Thorsten Jakobitsch
- Austrian Archaeological Institute (ÖAI), Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Franz Klein-Gasse 1, 1190, Vienna, Austria
| | - Magda Kapcia
- Władysław Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lubicz 46, 31-512, Kraków, Poland
| | - Stefanie Klooß
- Archäologisches Landesamt Schleswig-Holstein, Brockdorff-Rantzau-Straße 70, 24837, Schleswig, Germany
| | - Marianne Kohler-Schneider
- Department für Integrative Biologie, Universität für Bodenkultur, Gregor-Mendel-Straße 33, 1180, Vienna, Austria
| | - Helmut Kroll
- Independent Researcher, Projensdorfer Str. 195, 24106, Kiel, Germany
| | - Przemysław Makarowicz
- Faculty of Archaeology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Uniwersytetu Poznańskiego 7, 61-614, Poznań, Poland
| | - Elena Marinova
- Landesamt für Denkmalpflege am Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart, Fischersteig 9, 78343, Gaienhofen-Hemmenhofen, Germany
| | - Tanja Märkle
- Landesamt für Denkmalpflege am Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart, Fischersteig 9, 78343, Gaienhofen-Hemmenhofen, Germany
| | | | - Anna Maria Mercuri
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Giuseppe Campi 287, 41125, Modena, Italy
| | - Aldona Mueller-Bieniek
- Władysław Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lubicz 46, 31-512, Kraków, Poland
| | - Renato Nisbet
- Dipartimento di Studi sull'Asia e sull'Africa Mediterranea, Università Ca' Foscari, Dorsoduro 3462, 30123, Venezia, Italy
| | - Galina Pashkevich
- National Museum of Natural Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences in Ukraine, Bul. Bohdan Khmelnitsky 15, Kyiv, 01030, Ukraine
| | - Renata Perego
- Laboratory of Palynology and Palaeoecology CNR IGAG, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126, Milan, Italy
| | - Petr Pokorný
- Centre for Theoretical Study, Charles University Prague and Czech Academy of Sciences, Jilská 1, 110 00, Prague 1, Czech Republic
| | - Łukasz Pospieszny
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, 43 Woodland Road, Bristol, BS8 1UU, UK
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Rubież 46, 61-612, Poznań, Poland
| | - Marcin Przybyła
- Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Ul. Gołębia 11, 31-007, Kraków, Poland
| | - Kelly Reed
- Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, 34 Broad Street, Oxford, OX1 3BD, UK
| | - Joanna Rennwanz
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Rubież 46, 61-612, Poznań, Poland
| | - Hans-Peter Stika
- Department of Molecular Botany, Institute of Biology, University of Hohenheim, Garbenstraße 30, 70599, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Astrid Stobbe
- Institute of Archaeological Sciences, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Norbert-Wollheim-Platz 1, 60629, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Tjaša Tolar
- ZRC SAZU, Institute of Archaeology, Novi trg 2, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Krystyna Wasylikowa
- Władysław Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lubicz 46, 31-512, Kraków, Poland
| | - Julian Wiethold
- Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (Inrap), Direction régionale Grand Est, 12, rue de Méric, CS 80005, 57063, Metz cedex 2, France
- UMR 6298, ArTeHiS Dijon, Dijon, France
| | - Tanja Zerl
- Institute for Pre- and Protohistory, University of Köln, Weyertal 125, 50923, Köln, Germany
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24
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Stantis C, Kharobi A, Maaranen N, Nowell GM, Bietak M, Prell S, Schutkowski H. Who were the Hyksos? Challenging traditional narratives using strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) analysis of human remains from ancient Egypt. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0235414. [PMID: 32667937 PMCID: PMC7363063 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2020] [Accepted: 06/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
A foreign dynasty, known as the Hyksos, ruled parts of Egypt between c. 1638–1530 BCE. Their origins are thought to be rooted in the Near East, which is supported by architectural features and grave accoutrements of Tell el-Dabca. In this former Hyksos capital in the Eastern Nile Delta, burial culture is characterized by a blend of Egyptian and Near Eastern elements. However, investigations are still ongoing as to where the Hyksos came from and how they rose to power. The aim of this study is to elucidate the question of possible provenience. We present the results of strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) ratios of human tooth enamel (n = 75) from Tell el-Dabca, focusing on comparing pre- and during Hyksos rule and sex-based differences. An influx of non-locals can be observed in the pre-Hyksos period (12th and 13th Dynasties, c. 1991–1649 BCE) during the constitution of this important harbor town, while the number of individuals already born in the Delta is larger during the Hyksos period. This is consistent with the supposition that, while the ruling class had Near Eastern origins, the Hyksos’ rise to power was not the result of an invasion, as popularly theorized, but an internal dominance and takeover of foreign elite. There is a preponderance of non-local females suggesting patrilocal residence. We discuss our findings against the current evidence of material culture and historiography, but more investigation in Near Eastern comparative sites has to be conducted to narrow our future search for the actual origins of the Hyksos.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chris Stantis
- Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Bournemouth University, Poole, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - Arwa Kharobi
- Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Bournemouth University, Poole, United Kingdom
- PACEA - De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie, UMR CNRS 5199, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac cedex, France
| | - Nina Maaranen
- Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Bournemouth University, Poole, United Kingdom
| | - Geoff M. Nowell
- Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom
| | | | - Silvia Prell
- Austrian Academy of Sciences Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Holger Schutkowski
- Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Bournemouth University, Poole, United Kingdom
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25
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Knipper C, Koncz I, Ódor JG, Mende BG, Rácz Z, Kraus S, van Gyseghem R, Friedrich R, Vida T. Coalescing traditions-Coalescing people: Community formation in Pannonia after the decline of the Roman Empire. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0231760. [PMID: 32348315 PMCID: PMC7190109 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231760] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2019] [Accepted: 03/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The decline of the Roman rule caused significant political instability and led to the emergence of various ‘Barbarian’ powers. While the names of the involved groups appeared in written sources, it is largely unknown how these changes affected the daily lives of the people during the 5th century AD. Did late Roman traditions persist, did new customs emerge, and did both amalgamate into new cultural expressions? A prime area to investigate these population and settlement historical changes is the Carpathian Basin (Hungary). Particularly, we studied archaeological and anthropological evidence, as well as radiogenic and stable isotope ratios of strontium, carbon, and nitrogen of human remains from 96 graves at the cemetery of Mözs-Icsei dűlő. Integrated data analysis suggests that most members of the founder generation at the site exhibited burial practises of late Antique traditions, even though they were heterogeneous regarding their places of origin and dietary habits. Furthermore, the isotope data disclosed a nonlocal group of people with similar dietary habits. According to the archaeological evidence, they joined the community a few decades after the founder generation and followed mainly foreign traditions with artificial skull modification as their most prominent characteristic. Moreover, individuals with modified skulls and late Antique grave attributes attest to deliberate cultural amalgamation, whereas burials of largely different isotope ratios underline the recipient habitus of the community. The integration of archaeological and bioarchaeological information at the individual level discloses the complex coalescence of people and traditions during the 5th century.
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Affiliation(s)
- Corina Knipper
- Curt-Engelhorn-Center Archaeometery gGmbH, Mannheim, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - István Koncz
- Institute of Archaeological Sciences, ELTE–Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
| | | | - Balázs Gusztáv Mende
- Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Zsófia Rácz
- Institute of Archaeological Sciences, ELTE–Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Sandra Kraus
- Curt-Engelhorn-Center Archaeometery gGmbH, Mannheim, Germany
| | | | - Ronny Friedrich
- Curt-Engelhorn-Center Archaeometery gGmbH, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Tivadar Vida
- Institute of Archaeological Sciences, ELTE–Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
- Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
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26
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Frei KM, Bergerbrant S, Sjögren KG, Jørkov ML, Lynnerup N, Harvig L, Allentoft ME, Sikora M, Price TD, Frei R, Kristiansen K. Mapping human mobility during the third and second millennia BC in present-day Denmark. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0219850. [PMID: 31433798 PMCID: PMC6703675 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219850] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2019] [Accepted: 07/02/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
We present results of the largest multidisciplinary human mobility investigation to date of skeletal remains from present-day Denmark encompassing the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. Through a multi-analytical approach based on 88 individuals from 37 different archaeological localities in which we combine strontium isotope and radiocarbon analyses together with anthropological investigations, we explore whether there are significant changes in human mobility patterns during this period. Overall, our data suggest that mobility of people seems to have been continuous throughout the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. However, our data also indicate a clear shift in mobility patterns from around 1600 BC onwards, with a larger variation in the geographical origin of the migrants, and potentially including more distant regions. This shift occurred during a transition period at the beginning of the Nordic Bronze Age at a time when society flourished, expanded and experienced an unprecedented economic growth, suggesting that these aspects were closely related.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karin Margarita Frei
- National Museum of Denmark, Department of Research, Collections and Conservation, Environmental Archaeology and Material Science, I.C. Modewegsvej, Brede, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
- * E-mail:
| | - Sophie Bergerbrant
- Institute for Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Karl-Göran Sjögren
- Institute for Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Marie Louise Jørkov
- Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Niels Lynnerup
- Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Lise Harvig
- Department of Archaeological Science and Conservation, Højbjerg, Moesgaard Museum, Denmark
| | - Morten E. Allentoft
- Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Martin Sikora
- Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - T. Douglas Price
- Institute for Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Laboratory for Archaeological Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States of America
| | - Robert Frei
- Department of Geoscience and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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