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Bagnasco G, Marzullo M, Cattaneo C, Biehler-Gomez L, Mazzarelli D, Ricciardi V, Müller W, Coppa A, McLaughlin R, Motta L, Prato O, Schmidt F, Gaveriaux F, Marras GB, Millet MA, Madgwick R, Ballantyne R, Makarewicz CA, Trentacoste A, Reimer P, Mattiangeli V, Bradley DG, Malone C, Esposito C, Breslin EM, Stoddart S. Bioarchaeology aids the cultural understanding of six characters in search of their agency (Tarquinia, ninth-seventh century BC, central Italy). Sci Rep 2024; 14:11895. [PMID: 38806487 PMCID: PMC11133411 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-61052-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2023] [Accepted: 04/30/2024] [Indexed: 05/30/2024] Open
Abstract
Etruria contained one of the great early urban civilisations in the Italian peninsula during the first millennium BC, much studied from a cultural, humanities-based, perspective, but relatively little with scientific data, and rarely in combination. We have addressed the unusual location of twenty inhumations found in the sacred heart of the Etruscan city of Tarquinia, focusing on six of these as illustrative, contrasting with the typical contemporary cremations found in cemeteries on the edge of the city. The cultural evidence suggests that the six skeletons were also distinctive in their ritualization and memorialisation. Focusing on the six, as a representative sample, the scientific evidence of osteoarchaeology, isotopic compositions, and ancient DNA has established that these appear to show mobility, diversity and violence through an integrated bioarchaeological approach. The combination of multiple lines of evidence makes major strides towards a deeper understanding of the role of these extraordinary individuals in the life of the early city of Etruria.
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Affiliation(s)
- G Bagnasco
- Dipartimento di Beni Culturali e Ambientali, CRC "Progetto Tarquinia", Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
| | - M Marzullo
- Dipartimento di Beni Culturali e Ambientali, CRC "Progetto Tarquinia", Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - C Cattaneo
- LABANOF (Laboratorio di Antropologia e Odontologia Forense), Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - L Biehler-Gomez
- LABANOF (Laboratorio di Antropologia e Odontologia Forense), Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - D Mazzarelli
- LABANOF (Laboratorio di Antropologia e Odontologia Forense), Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - V Ricciardi
- LABANOF (Laboratorio di Antropologia e Odontologia Forense), Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - W Müller
- Institute of Geosciences, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Frankfurt Isotope and Element Research Center (FIERCE), Goethe University, Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - A Coppa
- Dipartimento di Storia Antropologia Religioni Arte Spettacolo, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy
| | - R McLaughlin
- Hamilton Institute, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Ireland
| | - L Motta
- Department of Classical Studies and Program in the Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
| | - O Prato
- Institute of Archaeology, UCL University College London, London, UK
| | | | - F Gaveriaux
- Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
| | | | - M A Millet
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AT, UK
| | - R Madgwick
- Cardiff School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - R Ballantyne
- School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - C A Makarewicz
- Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - A Trentacoste
- Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - P Reimer
- School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
| | - V Mattiangeli
- Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin2, Ireland
| | - D G Bradley
- Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin2, Ireland
| | - C Malone
- School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK
| | - C Esposito
- Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, Ravenna, Italy
| | - E M Breslin
- Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin2, Ireland
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Depaermentier ML, Krause-Kyora B, Hajdas I, Kempf M, Kuhn T, Spichtig N, Schwarz PA, Gerling C. Bioarchaeological analyses reveal long-lasting continuity at the periphery of the Late Antique Roman Empire. iScience 2023; 26:107034. [PMID: 37360687 PMCID: PMC10285633 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2022] [Revised: 03/23/2023] [Accepted: 05/31/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023] Open
Abstract
The Basel-Waisenhaus burial community (Switzerland) has been traditionally interpreted as immigrated Alamans because of the location and dating of the burial ground - despite the typical late Roman funeral practices. To evaluate this hypothesis, multi-isotope and aDNA analyses were conducted on the eleven individuals buried there. The results show that the burial ground was occupied around AD 400 by people belonging largely to one family, whereas isotope and genetic records most probably point toward a regionally organized and indigenous, instead of an immigrated, community. This strengthens the recently advanced assumption that the withdrawal of the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian limes after the "Crisis of the Third Century AD" was not necessarily related to a replacement of the local population by immigrated Alamannic peoples, suggesting a long-lasting continuity of occupation at the Roman periphery at the Upper and High Rhine region.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margaux L.C. Depaermentier
- Department of Ancient Civilizations, Prehistoric and Early Historic and Provincial Roman Archaeology, Vindonissa Professorship, University of Basel, Petersgraben 51, 4051 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Ben Krause-Kyora
- Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology, Kiel University, Rosalind-Franklin-Straße 12, 24105 Kiel, Germany
| | - Irka Hajdas
- Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zurich, Otto-Stern-Weg 5 HPK H31, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Michael Kempf
- Department of Geography, Physical Geography, Landscape Ecology and Geoinformation, Kiel University, Ludewig-Meyn-Str. 8, 24098 Kiel, Germany
| | - Thomas Kuhn
- Aquatic and Isotope Biogeochemistry, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Bernoullistrasse 30, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Norbert Spichtig
- Archäologische Bodenforschung Basel-Stadt, Petersgraben 11, 4001 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Peter-Andrew Schwarz
- Department of Ancient Civilizations, Prehistoric and Early Historic and Provincial Roman Archaeology, Vindonissa Professorship, University of Basel, Petersgraben 51, 4051 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Claudia Gerling
- Department of Ancient Civilizations, Prehistoric and Early Historic and Provincial Roman Archaeology, Vindonissa Professorship, University of Basel, Petersgraben 51, 4051 Basel, Switzerland
- Integrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Spalenring 145, 4055 Basel, Switzerland
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Kempf M, Depaermentier MLC. Scales of transformations-Modelling settlement and land-use dynamics in late antique and early medieval Basel, Switzerland. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0280321. [PMID: 36724164 PMCID: PMC9891536 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2022] [Accepted: 12/27/2022] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Multicomponent environmental models have increasingly found their way into archaeological research. Mostly, these models aim to understand human patterns as a result of past climatic and environmental conditions over long-term periods. However, major limitations are the low spatial and temporal resolution of the environmental data, and hence the rather static model output. Particular challenges are thus the number of chosen variables, the comprehensiveness of the explanatory parameters, and the integration of socio-cultural decision-making into the model. Here, we present a novel approach to generate annually resolved landcover variability using a broad variety of climatic, geological, hydrological, topographical, and dendrochronological data composites (Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI)). We analyze land-use and settlement capacity and vulnerability to estimate the socio-cultural transformation processes at Basel (Switzerland) during the Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Our results highlight the potential of the PDSI to predict local river run-off behavior from catchment analyses. The model enables to trace landcover as well as socio-cultural response to climatic variability and subsequent adaptation to trends in environmental vulnerability. This approach further helps to understand population dynamics in the periphery of the Roman administrative boundaries and to revise traditional archaeological narratives of large-scale population replacements during the so-called Migration Period.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Kempf
- Department of Geography, Physical Geography—Landscape Ecology and Geoinformation, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany
- CRC1266—Scales of Transformation, Project A2 ’Integrative Modelling of Socio-Environmental Dynamics’, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany
- Department of Archaeology and Museology, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
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Cavazzuti C, Hajdu T, Lugli F, Sperduti A, Vicze M, Horváth A, Major I, Molnár M, Palcsu L, Kiss V. Human mobility in a Bronze Age Vatya 'urnfield' and the life history of a high-status woman. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0254360. [PMID: 34319991 PMCID: PMC8318297 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2020] [Accepted: 06/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
In this study, we present osteological and strontium isotope data of 29 individuals (26 cremations and 3 inhumations) from Szigetszentmiklós-Ürgehegy, one of the largest Middle Bronze Age cemeteries in Hungary. The site is located in the northern part of the Csepel Island (a few kilometres south of Budapest) and was in use between c. 2150 and 1500 BC, a period that saw the rise, the apogee, and, ultimately, the collapse of the Vatya culture in the plains of Central Hungary. The main aim of our study was to identify variation in mobility patterns among individuals of different sex/age/social status and among individuals treated with different burial rites using strontium isotope analysis. Changes in funerary rituals in Hungary have traditionally been associated with the crises of the tell cultures and the introgression of newcomers from the area of the Tumulus Culture in Central Europe around 1500 BC. Our results show only slight discrepancies between inhumations and cremations, as well as differences between adult males and females. The case of the richly furnished grave n. 241 is of particular interest. The urn contains the cremated bones of an adult woman and two 7 to 8-month-old foetuses, as well as remarkably prestigious goods. Using 87Sr/86Sr analysis of different dental and skeletal remains, which form in different life stages, we were able to reconstruct the potential movements of this high-status woman over almost her entire lifetime, from birth to her final days. Our study confirms the informative potential of strontium isotopes analyses performed on different cremated tissues. From a more general, historical perspective, our results reinforce the idea that exogamic practices were common in Bronze Age Central Europe and that kinship ties among high-rank individuals were probably functional in establishing or strengthening interconnections, alliances, and economic partnerships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudio Cavazzuti
- Dipartimento di Storia Culture Civiltà, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italia
- Archaeology Department, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom
| | - Tamás Hajdu
- Department of Biological Anthropology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
- Department of Anthropology, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Federico Lugli
- Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Ravenna, Italy
- Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
| | - Alessandra Sperduti
- Museo delle Civiltà, Sezione di Bioarcheologia, Rome, Italy
- University of Napoli “L’Orientale”, Naples, Italy
| | | | - Aniko Horváth
- ICER Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - István Major
- ICER Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Mihály Molnár
- ICER Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - László Palcsu
- ICER Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Viktória Kiss
- Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence, Budapest, Hungary
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Toncala A, Trautmann B, Velte M, Kropf E, McGlynn G, Peters J, Harbeck M. On the premises of mixing models to define local bioavailable 87Sr/ 86Sr ranges in archaeological contexts. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2020; 745:140902. [PMID: 32717600 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140902] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2020] [Revised: 07/08/2020] [Accepted: 07/09/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
In archaeological mobility studies, non-local humans and animals can be identified by means of stable strontium isotope analysis. However, defining the range of local 87Sr/86Sr ratios is prerequisite. To achieve this goal, proxy-based mixing models have recently been proposed using 87Sr/86Sr ratios measured in modern local vegetation, water and soil samples. Our study complements earlier efforts by introducing archaeological animal bones as an additional proxy. We then evaluate the different modelling approaches by contrasting proxy-results generated for the county of Erding (Upper Bavaria, Germany) with a comprehensive set of strontium measurements obtained from tooth enamel of late antique and early medieval human individuals (n = 49) from the same micro-region. We conclude that current mixing models based on environmental proxies clearly underestimate the locally bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr ratios due to the limited sample size of modern environmental specimens and a suit of imponderables inherent to efforts modelling complex geobiological processes. In sum, currently available mixing models are deemed inadequate and can therefore not be recommended.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anita Toncala
- SNSB, State Collection for Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy, Karolinenplatz 2a, 80333 Munich, Germany.
| | - Bernd Trautmann
- SNSB, State Collection for Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy, Karolinenplatz 2a, 80333 Munich, Germany
| | - Maren Velte
- SNSB, State Collection for Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy, Karolinenplatz 2a, 80333 Munich, Germany
| | - Eva Kropf
- SNSB, State Collection for Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy, Karolinenplatz 2a, 80333 Munich, Germany
| | - George McGlynn
- SNSB, State Collection for Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy, Karolinenplatz 2a, 80333 Munich, Germany
| | - Joris Peters
- SNSB, State Collection for Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy, Karolinenplatz 2a, 80333 Munich, Germany; Department of Veterinary Sciences, Institute of Paleoanatomy, Domestication Research and the History of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Kaulbachstr. 37 III, 80539 Munich, Germany
| | - Michaela Harbeck
- SNSB, State Collection for Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy, Karolinenplatz 2a, 80333 Munich, Germany
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