Transalpine mobility part 2. Current Synthesis and Future Options (original) (raw)
Related papers
In: E. Kaiser, J. Burger, W. Schier, Population Dynamics in Pre- and Early History. New Approaches by Using Stable Isotopes and Genetics. Topoi – Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, 2012, 199-212.
In the last forty years, continuing rescue excavations in the Lower Traisen valley (Unteres Traisental) in Lower Austria have identified about 180 burials dating to the final Neolithic (2600–2200 BC). They belong to the Corded Ware culture and Late Bell Beaker culture. Enamel from permanent teeth of a total of 49 individuals originating from Subsites I, II and III of the Franzhausen (FH) excavation area were analysed with respect to their strontium isotopic composition. The aim was to identify locals and nonlocals and to contribute to questions of mobility and migration. We applied a validated routine procedure for Sr isotope ratio measurements using solutionbased multiple collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS). In addition, recent soil samples from the Franzhausen area were extracted by ammonium nitrate solutions in order to delimit the local isotope signal of bioavailable Sr in the region. 87Sr/86Sr ratios in the enamel revealed that about 88 % of the investigated individuals are autochthonous. These data were subjected to a further detailed evaluation with respect to the individuals’ age at death and sex, as well as to a possible spatial differentiation (FH I, II and III) and cultural affiliation. Sr isotope ratio data show no pattern regarding age at death. Higher mobility was found for male individuals compared to that for females. Results evaluated according to chronological and spatial subgroups imply differences in mobility. Distinct groups of representatives of the Corded Ware culture in the subsites were identified as nonlocals, whereas all of the investigated individuals assigned to the Late Bell Beaker culture were locals.
Objectives: Written sources have provided information about the rise of Merovingian power and their territorial conquests after the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire, but the extent to which altered power relations in the newly annexed territories reshaped regional and local communities is poorly understood. The early medieval cemetery of Dirmstein, located in the Upper Rhine Valley, is one of the rare sites bearing archeological evidence of simultaneous use by an indigenous community and newcomers from outside the Merovingian core area, and it offers the opportunity to investigate residential mobility at the former Roman Rhine frontier during the Mer-ovingian period. Materials and Methods: We conducted strontium, oxygen, and carbon isotope analyses on human tooth enamel recovered from 25 sixth century inhumations at the Dirmstein cemetery to establish the presence of newcomers to the Upper Rhine region. Results: The low d 13 C values exhibited by the Dirmstein individuals revealed ingestion of a C 3 terrestrial based diet, with no detectable contribution of C 4 plants, which indicates the absence of individuals from regions where a C 4-based diet was common. Human 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values well outside the the local range of bioavailable strontium, in combination with low d 18 O values, suggest a notable presence of newcomers from more eastern or high altitude regions. Conclusions: The isotopic evidence indicates that residential mobility was important and new settlers , most likely from outside the Merovingian core area, contributed to the settlement of the northern Upper Rhine Valley during the sixth century AD.
Strontium isotope analysis of human remains from San Martín de Dulantzi (Alegría-Dulantzi, Álava, Spain) graveyard has been used to establish mobility patterns during the Early Middle Ages. Some archaeological human remains had Germanic grave goods. Through radiogenic strontium isotope anal- ysis, local origin individuals and immigrants were differentiated. Archaeological human bone samples exhibit 87Sr/86Sr 1⁄4 0.70779e0.70802 values similar to domestic fauna isotope composition, indicating local origin of individuals or long residence time in the region. Comparing these data with tooth enamel values, two groups of immigrants from distinctive geological environment were established. The Dulantzi population constituted mainly a local society with influxes of immigrants. The foreign individuals are distributed through the studied period of time, suggesting that migration movements were limited in number. Isotopic signatures indicating mainly local individuals, linked to grave goods with archaeological attribution to Germanic origin, question the previous ethnic paradigm.