Practising pastoralism in an agricultural environment: An isotopic analysis of the impact of the Hunnic incursions on Pannonian populations

We conducted a multi-isotope study of five fifth-century AD cemeteries in modern-day Hungary to determine relationships between nomadic-pastoralist incomers—the historically documented Huns and other nomadic groups—and the sedentary agricultural population of the late Roman province of Pannonia. Contemporary historical sources describe this relationship as adversarial and destructive for the late Roman population, but archaeological evidence indicates high levels of hybridity between different groups. We undertook carbon, nitrogen, strontium and oxygen isotope analyses of bone collagen, dentine and tooth enamel at Keszthely-Fenékpuszta, Hács-Béndekpuszta, Győr-Széchenyi Square, Mözs and Szolnok-Szanda to examine these relationships through past subsistence practices. The patterns at all sites indicate medium to high animal protein consumption with little evidence for a significant contribution of aquatic resources. All populations relied to a great extent on C4 plants, most likely millet. Within each population, diet was heterogeneous, with significant variations in terms of animal protein and C3 and C4 plant consumption. High levels of intra-population and individual variability suggest that populations made use of a range of subsistence strategies, with many individuals exhibiting significant changes over their lifetimes. Rather than being characterised only by violence, the historically-documented influx of nomadic populations appears to have led to widespread changes in subsistence strategies of populations in the Carpathian basin. Nomadic-pastoralist groups may have switched to smaller herds and more farming, and, conversely, local populations may have integrated with a new economic system based on animal herding.The analytical costs were funded by a research grant from the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge. A study visit to Hungary was supported by a SYNTHESYS travel grant

Understanding 6th-century barbarian social organization and migration through paleogenomics.

Despite centuries of research, much about the barbarian migrations that took place between the fourth and sixth centuries in Europe remains hotly debated. To better understand this key era that marks the dawn of modern European societies, we obtained ancient genomic DNA from 63 samples from two cemeteries (from Hungary and Northern Italy) that have been previously associated with the Longobards, a barbarian people that ruled large parts of Italy for over 200 years after invading from Pannonia in 568 CE. Our dense cemetery-based sampling revealed that each cemetery was primarily organized around one large pedigree, suggesting that biological relationships played an important role in these early medieval societies. Moreover, we identified genetic structure in each cemetery involving at least two groups with different ancestry that were very distinct in terms of their funerary customs. Finally, our data are consistent with the proposed long-distance migration from Pannonia to Northern Italy.This work was supported by National Science Foundation award #1450606, the Anneliese Maier Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Max Planck Society, the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research, the Swedish Riksbankens Jubieleumfond, the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Study Director’s Office, and the Italian Ministry for University and Research Department of Excellence Program

'Hunnic' modified skulls: physical appearance, identity and the transformative nature of migrations

The distribution of modified skulls from the Black Sea to southern France has long been linked to the Huns. Historically, the advance of the Huns into Roman territory in the fourth and fifth centuries has been seen as the catalyst for the migrations of other barbarian tribes whichultimately contributed to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. The archaeological evidence associated with these skulls provides a more varied picture of migrations and the effects they had on both the migrating and the receiving populations. First, the migration of nomadic peoples intothe Roman provinces in the Carpathian basin was a gradual process that profoundly changed material expressions of identity there and led to the development of a ‘hybrid’ culture. Second, the distribution of women with modified skulls west of the Carpathian basin indicates directed movements of individuals, possibly in the context of an exogamous social structure. In a migration context, modified skulls are a clear physical reminder thata person is ‘foreign’ or has a history of migration, and the physical traits of the body in themselves become a source of identity. Individuals with modified skulls, and the manner in which they were buried, thus providea case study for examining the relationship between physical appearance, identity and the transformative nature of migrations.<br/

Anglo-Saxon diet in the Conversion period: A comparative isotopic study using carbon and nitrogen

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Seventh-century Anglo-Saxon England is characterised by great social and religious change. The arrival of missionaries from Rome in 597 CE initiated the gradual process of conversion to Christianity. There is growing evidence for increasing hierarchy and social stratification in the archaeological record at this time, including prominent kingly burials. This paper investigates whether diet was influenced by social stratification and to a lesser extent religion in two seventh-century cemetery populations: Melbourn, Cambridgeshire, and Polhill, Kent. Analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes from 116 human individuals was undertaken. Factors considered included age, sex, wealth and other notable grave features. Results showed that the diets of both populations were largely unaffected by these wider social processes, with negligible differences between social groups. The results were placed in the context of wider Anglo-Saxon dietary studies and highlight that Anglo-Saxon populations consistently display overwhelmingly similar ranges of carbon and nitrogen isotopes

Spong Hill dataset collection - item 2: Pot Decoration

Multiple-page Excel spreadsheet, containing pottery decoration data and final results of correspondence analysis and seriation tabl

Spong Hill dataset collection - item 3: Correspondence Analysis Stamps

Multiple-page Excel spreadsheet, containing pottery stamp data and final results of correspondence analysis and seriation tabl

Migration into early medieval England

Isotopic investigation into chronological, gendered and regional mobility variatio

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

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