Strontium isotope investigations of the Haraldskær        Woman – a complex record of various tissues

Frei, Karin Margarita; Mannering, Ulla; Price, T. Douglas; Iversen, Rasmus Birch

doi:10.4000/archeosciences.4407

Cited by 19 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…This type of detailed mobility investigations of single individuals is possible when hair and/or nails are also preserved [5,9]. Similarly, age determination can be more precise when several techniques are combined.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A matter of months: High precision migration chronology of a Bronze Age female

et al. 2017

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Establishing the age at which prehistoric individuals move away from their childhood residential location holds crucial information about the socio dynamics and mobility patterns in ancient societies. We present a novel combination of strontium isotope analyses performed on the over 3000 year old “Skrydstrup Woman” from Denmark, for whom we compiled a highly detailed month-scale model of her migration timeline. When combined with physical anthropological analyses this timeline can be related to the chronological age at which the residential location changed. We conducted a series of high-resolution strontium isotope analyses of hard and soft human tissues and combined these with anthropological investigations including CT-scanning and 3D visualizations. The Skrydstrup Woman lived during a pan-European period characterized by technical innovation and great social transformations stimulated by long-distance connections; consequently she represents an important part of both Danish and European prehistory. Our multidisciplinary study involves complementary biochemical, biomolecular and microscopy analyses of her scalp hair. Our results reveal that the Skrydstrup Woman was between 17–18 years old when she died, and that she moved from her place of origin -outside present day Denmark- to the Skrydstrup area in Denmark 47 to 42 months before she died. Hence, she was between 13 to 14 years old when she migrated to and resided in the area around Skrydstrup for the rest of her life. From an archaeological standpoint, this one-time and one-way movement of an elite female during the possible “age of marriageability” might suggest that she migrated with the aim of establishing an alliance between chiefdoms. Consequently, this detailed multidisciplinary investigation provides a novel tool to reconstruct high resolution chronology of individual mobility with the perspective of studying complex patterns of social and economic interaction in prehistory.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A matter of months: High precision migration chronology of a Bronze Age female

et al. 2017

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“…The current boom in studies of mobility combined with recent scientific advances in creating detailed timeline investigations of single individuals (Font et al, 2012;Tipple et al, 2013;Eerkens et al, 2014;Knipper et al, 2014;Frei et al, 2015aFrei et al, , 2015bFrei et al, , 2017Plomp et al, 2017) has created a new way of layering new questions regarding social dynamics. Here, we propose a simple model of different types of mobility that this new corpus of data appears to suggest with the aim of providing new tools with which we can discuss past mobility more in detail.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In recent decades, advances in mobility research have created a broader understanding of how mobility—or potential mobility—functions in an increasingly connected world (see discussion of push/pull in Heberle, 1938; Lee, 1966; cost/benefit in Sjastaad, 1962; and ‘motility’ in Kaufmann et al, 2004). New methods in the field of isotopic tracing, such as the analysis of hair and fingernails, micro-sampling of multiple skeletal elements as well as the consecutive analysis of molars, has enabled scholars to create high-resolution timelines for individual human movements (Font et al, 2012; Tipple et al, 2013; Knipper et al, 2014; Frei et al, 2015a, 2015b, 2017; Scharlotta, 2018). Studies of various cases of single individual mobility timelines can be combined with other group analyses, thereby allowing archaeology to gain a better handle on the complexity of the networks connecting human biology, ethnicity, culture, and heritage (Haak et al, 2008; Knipper et al, 2017).…”

Section: Research Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent advances in human mobility investigations based on aDNA and isotopic scientific analyses are currently providing unprecedented opportunities to investigate ancient socio-cultural flux directly from human remains (e.g. Evans et al, 2006;Haak, et al, 2008;Allentoft et al, 2015;Frei et al, 2015bFrei et al, , 2017Kristiansen et al, 2017;Price et al, 2019). Consequently, it seems opportune to try to start investigating human mobility patterns in a new light.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interpreting Past Human Mobility Patterns: A Model

Reiter

Frei

2019

Eur. j. archaeol

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In the last decade, the exponential increase in migration studies focusing on the mobility of groups and single individuals—mostly based on aDNA and strontium isotope analyses—has provided an important extra layer of information regarding past social dynamics. The current relatively large quantity of data and their constant increase provide an opportunity to examine human mobility in unprecedented detail. In short, the course of academic dialogue is changing from producing evidence for movement to examining differences or similarities in human mobilities across temporal and geographical barriers. Moreover, the amount and type of new data are beginning to provide new kinds of information that can help us grasp why that movement first came about. We present the first potential mobility model focusing on single individuals during different life stages based on in vivo movement patterns. We draw on previous studies in recent mobility research that provide a variety of case studies to illustrate the model. We hope that this model will prove valuable for future discussions regarding human mobility by integrating the present archaeological contextual discourse with the increasing body of data being produced.

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“…In Scandinavia, recent investigations also address aspects of palaeomobility in Prehistoric Scandinavia from the Mesolithic to the Viking Age e.g. (Sjögren et al, 2009;Frei et al, 2015a;Frei et al, 2015b;Price et al, 2011;Harvig et al, 2014;Bergerbrant et al, 2017;Eriksson et al, Mobility and diet in Prehistoric Denmark: strontium isotope analysis and incremental stable isotope analysis of human remains from the Limfjord area 2018; Frei et al, 2019). From within Scandinavia, Denmark has yielded the highest number of strontium isotope investigations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobility and diet in Prehistoric Denmark: strontium isotope analysis and incremental stable isotope analysis of human remains from the Limfjord area

Sluis

Daly

Frei

et al. 2020

DJA

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The Limfjord in Denmark held a prominent position throughout Prehistory as a natural communication port between east and west. Identifying the presence of non-local individuals might shed light on socio-economic and cultural changes occurring in the Limfjord area. Existing studies attempting to do so using strontium isotope analysis on Danish prehistoric remains focus on certain archaeological time periods and geographic locations, resulting in an uneven distribution of analysed material. This study aimed at filling a gap in the existing literature, both from a geographical as well as a chronological point of view. Additionally, carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis on bone and tooth dentine from these individuals was carried out to examine dietary changes between childhood and adulthood. The strontium isotope results revealed four non-local individuals, two from the Neolithic, one from the Early Roman Iron Age and one from the Germanic Iron/Viking Age. We conducted incremental stable isotope analysis of tooth dentine from the four non-local individuals to investigate the palaeodietary information in their dental records at a higher resolution and potentially pinpoint their age at the time of movement. The two Neolithic individuals revealed stable isotope ratios that might be indicative of stress.

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Strontium isotope investigations of the Haraldskær Woman – a complex record of various tissues

Abstract: Strontium isotope investigations of the Haraldskaer Woman-a complex record of various tissues Analyse des isotopes du strontium de la Femme de Haraldskaer-un dossier complexe de tissus divers

Cited by 19 publications

References 26 publications

A matter of months: High precision migration chronology of a Bronze Age female

A matter of months: High precision migration chronology of a Bronze Age female

Interpreting Past Human Mobility Patterns: A Model

Mobility and diet in Prehistoric Denmark: strontium isotope analysis and incremental stable isotope analysis of human remains from the Limfjord area

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