Large-scale Isotopic Data Reveal Gendered Migration into early medieval England c AD 400-1100

Abstract

Biomolecular evidence has great potential to address unanswered questions about the nature and scale of migration into early medieval England. Previous isotopic studies of early medieval mobility and migration have mostly been site specific, focussing on the identification of outliers, occasionally comparing to a baseline or other sites for context. Here we present the results of a large-scale synthetic analysis of isotopic data for mobility in early medieval England, utilising both published and new data. We show gendered and regionally specific mobility histories in early medieval England for the first time at scale, and demonstrate chronological fluctuations linked to events such as the Adventus Saxonum and Scandinavian settlements of the 9th century AD onwards. First generation migrants and their possible regions of origin are identified, and narratives of migration from the end of the Roman period to the 11th century AD are re-framed considering the new evidence presented.

Women of the Conversion Period: a biomolecular investigation of mobility in early medieval England

“…The increase could be partly explained if a significant proportion of earlier mobility involved individuals from regions that have similar isotope values (owing to similarities in climate and geology) to southern and eastern England, such as north-west Germany and the Low Countries (cf. Gretzinger et al 2022;Leggett et al 2022), while in the seventh and eighth centuries a higher proportion of individuals from isotopically distinct regions was involved.…”

“…2022; Leggett et al . 2022), while in the seventh and eighth centuries a higher proportion of individuals from isotopically distinct regions was involved.…”

“…Oxygen is the most abundant type of mobility-related enamel isotope data currently available for early Anglo-Saxon burials. Within a total database of 541 burials, 293 have strontium data (paired or unpaired with oxygen) whereas 510 have some form of δ 18 O data available; the present project has nearly doubled the number of strontium results for burials from the seventh century (Leggett 2020; Leggett et al 2021, 2022). The 81 core burials come from six cemeteries and one isolated burial; over half come from Kent, where cross-Channel mobility may have been particularly marked (Figure 2; Leggett 2021; Gretzinger et al .…”