Mobility patterns in inland southwestern Sweden during the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate population dynamics in the Scandinavian Neolithic and Early Bronze Age in southwestern Sweden. Human mobility patterns in Falbygden were studied by applying strontium isotope analysis combined with archaeological and bioarchaeological data, including mtDNA and sex assessment on a large dataset encompassing 141 individuals from 21 megalithic graves. In combination with other archaeological and anthropological records, we investigated the temporal and spatial scale of individual movement, mobility patterns of specific categories of people and possible social drivers behind them. Our results of strontium and biomolecular analyses suggest that mobility increased in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age compared to the earlier parts of the Neolithic. The data indicate individuals moving both into and away from Falbygden. Mobility patterns and contact networks also shift over time.

Strontium isotope analysis reveals prehistoric mobility patterns in the southeastern Baltic area

“…Presently, very few 87 Sr/ 86 Sr measurements have been reported from Eastern Europe, compared to the numerous studies that have been carried out in Western, Central and Northern Europe (e.g. Bataille et al 2020;Bentley and Knipper 2005;Blank et al 2021;Borić and Price 2013;Fraser et al 2018;Frei et al 2019;Lahtinen et al 2021;Price et al 1994;Szczepanek et al 2018). For instance, we were unable to find any bioavailable 87 Sr/ 86 Sr data for Belarus.…”

“…More extensive studies have been undertaken on Swedish and Danish individuals. Intriguingly, the number of non-locals dating to the Neolithic in Lithuania compared to those from the Early-Middle Neolithic in southwestern Sweden appears to be somewhat comparable (25 and 18% respectively), whilst the number of non-locals dating to the Bronze Age in Lithuania was similar to those from the Neolithic to Early Bronze Age of southwestern Sweden (50 and 47% respectively) (Blank et al 2021). Furthermore, the mobility patterns of coastal Subneolithic fishers at Šventoji show no or only a single non-local (14%) which is similar to the Neolithic Pitted Ware culture people on Gotland (9% of non-locals) (Ahlström and Price 2021).…”

Coping with Risk. A Deep-Time Perspective on Societal Responses to Ecological Uncertainty in the River Dalälven Catchment Area in Sweden

“…Moreover, our work relates to and has potential to support recent Scandinavian scholarship. A 2021 paper by Blank et al explored the increase in and variation of mobility patterns of Late Neolithic populations in southern Sweden [70]. While our analysis was based on a broader range of radiocarbon samples, not strictly human bone and their associated isotopic signals as in the Blank et al study, the Late Neolithic (2200-1700 BCE) period in our region reflects a downturn in activity.…”

Late Neolithic Expansion

“…Prescott 1996Prescott , 2020Østmo 1988). Recent interdisciplinary studies on the Late Neolithic in Western and Southern Sweden also focus on subsistence (Blank 2021;Tornberg 2018). In Danish research, however, Late Neolithic subsistence strategies are only mentioned in passing (Iversen 2015, 121-122;Jensen 2001, 511-513;Sørensen 2014b: 64-67), probably because changes are blurred by an earlier Neolithisation, which occurred with the introduction of the Funnel Beaker Culture c.4000 BCE, around 1700 years before the Late Neolithic period (Sørensen 2014a).…”