Mesolithic populations throughout Europe used diverse resource exploitation strategies that focused heavily on collecting and hunting wild prey. Between 5500 and 4200 cal BC, agriculturalists migrated into northwestern Europe bringing a suite of Neolithic technologies including domesticated animals. Here we investigate to what extent Mesolithic Ertebølle communities in northern Germany had access to domestic pigs, possibly through contact with neighbouring Neolithic agricultural groups. We employ a multidisciplinary approach, applying sequencing of ancient mitochondrial and nuclear DNA (coat colour-coding gene MC1R) as well as traditional and geometric morphometric (molar size and shape) analyses in Sus specimens from 17 Neolithic and Ertebølle sites. Our data from 63 ancient pig specimens show that Ertebølle hunter-gatherers acquired domestic pigs of varying size and coat colour that had both Near Eastern and European mitochondrial DNA ancestry. Our results also reveal that domestic pigs were present in the region ~500 years earlier than previously demonstrated.

Stable strontium isotope ratios in archaeological finds have frequently been used to determine their place of origin, in order to reconstruct migration and trade. Peat bogs offer favourable burial conditions for the preservation of organic remains such as woollen textiles and leather by a natural tanning process. However, these finds are impregnated by peat substances including contaminant strontium which is likely to mask the original (87)Sr/(86)Sr isotopic ratio of the specimens. In this paper, we present a pilot study analysing stable strontium isotopic ratios from Iron Age textile and leather finds from the Thorsberg peat bog, focusing on a sample processing method which permits the quantitative removal of contaminating strontium from the specimens.

No abstract

Viking Haithabu and its successor, the medieval town of Schleswig, were important international trade centres. Human skeletal finds spanning a period of approximately 400 years represent the bodily relics of the former inhabitants, who witnessed the rise and fall of these trade centres. Analysis of δ13C and δ15N from bone collagen was performed to reconstruct and detect changes in dietary preferences over time. A comparison with the respective isotopic data obtained from a large archaeofaunal sample resulted in a classic ‘mixing muddle’ that could only be deciphered using isotope mass balance mixing models applied on an individual basis. It was found that the overall subsistence economy shifted over time from a focus on fishing to one based predominantly on farming. The move to utilizing a new main source of protein did not impair overall protein supply. In addition, changing living conditions experienced by the inhabitants of Schleswig may have led to a change in infant nursing strategy.