Flows of people in villages and large centres in Bronze Age Italy through strontium and oxygen isotopes

Abstract

This study investigates to what extent Bronze Age societies in Northern Italy were permeable accepting and integrating non-local individuals, as well as importing a wide range of raw materials, commodities, and ideas from networks spanning continental Europe and the Mediterranean.During the second millennium BC, the communities of Northern Italy engaged in a progressive stabilization of settlements, culminating in the large polities of the end of the Middle/beginning of the Late Bronze Age pivoted around large defended centres (the Terramare). Although a wide range of exotic archaeological materials indicates that the inhabitants of the Po plain increasingly took part in the networks of Continental European and the Eastern Mediterranean, we should not overlook the fact that the dynamics of interaction were also extremely active on local and regional levels.Mobility patterns have been explored for three key-sites, spanning the Early to Late Bronze Age (1900–1100 BC), namely Sant’Eurosia, Casinalbo and Fondo Paviani, through strontium and oxygen isotope analysis on a large sample size (more than 100 individuals). The results, integrated with osteological and archaeological data, document for the first time in this area that movements of people occurred mostly within a territorial radius of 50 km, but also that larger nodes in the settlement system (such as Fondo Paviani) included individuals from more distant areas. This suggests that, from a demographic perspective, the process towards a more complex socio-political system in Bronze Age Northern Italy was triggered by a largely, but not completely, internal process, stemming from the dynamics of intra-polity networks and local/regional power relationships.

Mobile elites at Frattesina: flows of people in a Late Bronze Age ‘port of trade’ in northern Italy

“…In particular, the baselines from the Middle–Late Bronze Age terramara at Fondo Paviani/Scalvinetto (0.7097–0.7101; Cavazzuti et al . 2019a) seem to correlate with the ratio obtained from the petrous portion of burial Narde1-168.…”

“…It seems reasonable therefore to hypothesise that groups based at nodal sites in the system attracted more prestige goods from exotic places, along with individuals from distant areas, while small villages attracted people mainly from within a local radius (Cavazzuti et al . 2019a). Within this dynamic cultural context, the Final Bronze Age funerary evidence from Frattesina documents a more elaborate display of power and wealth concentrated in the hands of elites.…”

From the Neolithic to the Bronze Age in Central Italy: Settlement, Burial, and Social Change at the Dawn of Metal Production

“…Out of many hundreds of Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age Europeans whose ancient DNA has now been sequenced, only eight are from south of the Alps (at the time of writing); of these, seven are from northern Italy (including the famous Iceman mummy) and the eighth is from Sicily (Allentoft et al 2015;Keller et al 2012;Olalde et al 2018;Sikora et al 2014). As for stable isotope analysis highlighting residential mobility, the few studies published to date overlook the central peninsula, as well as much of the period in question (Cavazzuti et al 2019;Tafuri et al 2016).…”

Who were the Hyksos? Challenging traditional narratives using strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) analysis of human remains from ancient Egypt

“…Any dentine attached to the sample was ablated with a diamond-tipped engraving cutter. After being sonicated rinsed three times with MilliQ water, samples were purified using the ion exchange method presented outlined by previous research [59,60]. The cleaned enamel samples were weighed, dissolved in concentrated HNO 3 , and then diluted to 3M HNO 3 .…”