Tracing human mobility in central Europe during the Upper Paleolithic using sub-seasonally resolved Sr isotope records in ornaments

Abstract

Mobility of people and goods during the Upper Paleolithic has proven difficult to reconstruct given the relative rareness of remains. nevertheless, archaeological contexts like the Late pleistocene horizon of Borsuka cave (Southern poland) represent a unique opportunity to explore patterns of objects' transportation across central europe. We investigated the origin of four ornaments made of european elk (Alces alces L.) incisors recovered at Borsuka cave-the oldest known burial site in poland, possibly a child grave. Laser-ablation plasma source mass spectrometric analyses of trace elements and Sr isotopic compositions revealed that one elk was roaming within a geologically uniform area while the others changed their pastures during their lifetimes. the non-local origin of the elk teeth is inferred from their exotic Sr isotopic compositions and the lack of evidence for the presence of elk in this territory during the pleistocene. instead, the elks' Sr isotopic composition show good agreement with sites near the Austria-Slovakia border region and northern Hungary, ~250 km away from the study site. We argue that the artefacts were most likely brought to Borsuka cave by humans or by a network of exchange, so far never reported in the time range 32.5-28.8 ka cal BP for Southern Poland. Burial practices involving deposition of grave goods emerged all over the European continent during the Upper Palaeolithic 1-6. Child burials are rare 6 and particularly valuable since they shed light on the role that children played in hunter-gatherer communities of that time 4. Burials of individuals as young as 4 years old 1 or even newborns 4 associated with elaborated funerary rituals such as the use of ornaments 4 , and artefacts requiring elaborate work and time to be produced 3,6 suggest that children were regarded as valuable members of the Palaeolithic communities 1-4. Borsuka Cave in southern Poland potentially is one of such exceptional graves which provides a unique insight into the activity of humans north of the Western Carpathians territory during the Early and Mid-Upper Palaeolithic (35-20 ka uncal BP). Few Aurignacian and Gravettian settlements have been uncovered within this time range and the cultural affiliation of archaeological material from Borsuka Cave remains problematic 7. Radiocarbon dates of pendants and of faunal remains from Borsuka Cave point to the Gravettian (Pavlovian) cultural period. On the other hand, the zooarchaeological record, the pendants production method and its typology have clear analogies with the Aurignacian archaeological record between 34 and 29 ka uncal BP in Lower Austria and Moravia 8-11. The Aurignacian culture in southern Poland, dated at 34-30 ka uncal BP is documented in Obłazowa and Mamutowa Caves (Fig. 1a), where diagnostic lithic tools along with human bone fragments were found 8,12-14. Thus, Borsuka Cave assemblage may represent the most recent vestige of the Aurignacian tradition north of the Western Carpathians where it lasted several thousand years longer than in the Carp...

BITS: A Bayesian Isotope Turnover and Sampling model for strontium isotopes in proboscideans and its potential utility in movement ecology

“…The modelling approach can be particularly powerful when coupled with additional tracers (e.g. carbon and oxygen isotopes; Kowalik et al, 2023; Miller et al, 2022; Wooller et al, 2021) to inform, for example seasonal residence patterns or the timing of migration. The generic isotope turnover processes and the BITS framework discussed here can be adapted to data for other isotope systems (with fractionations involved) or other organisms of interest (with additional turnover calibrations).…”

“…Bataille et al, 2020; Bowen & West, 2008; Wunder, 2010) have facilitated data growth and geospatially explicit reconstructions of movement or migration (e.g. Brennan et al, 2015; Kowalik et al, 2023; Lazzerini et al, 2021; Willmes et al, 2016; Wooller et al, 2021). However, the pathways and timescales of 87 Sr/ 86 Sr incorporation from the environment (e.g.…”

Spatial ecology of moose in Sweden: Combined Sr-O-C isotope analyses of bone and antler

“…It is now well established that mobility and nutritional patterns are recorded in the geochemical signature of human and animal skeletal tissues [24][25][26]. To date, numerous applications of strontium ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr), oxygen (δ 18 O) and carbon (δ 13 C) isotope analyses have reconstructed dietary habits, migration events, residential patterns, animal management, exchange of goods and raw materials in archaeological contexts [27][28][29][30].…”

Tracing the mobility of a Late Epigravettian (~ 13 ka) male infant from Grotte di Pradis (Northeastern Italian Prealps) at high-temporal resolution

“…Yet, information concerning human mobility during the Upper Palaeolithic is still scarce and mainly inferred from indirect evidence such as raw materials 20 and ornament sourcing 21 , hunting strategies and dietary choices 22 , and lower limb morphology 23 . Here we directly investigate the mobility and the life-history of an infant from the Epigravettian layers of the Pradis (or Grotte di Pradis) site 24 , 25 , through a multidisciplinary approach applied to an exfoliated deciduous tooth (sample ID: Pradis 1).…”