Human mobility at Tell Atchana (Alalakh), Hatay, Turkey during the 2nd millennium BC: Integration of isotopic and genomic evidence

Abstract

The Middle and Late Bronze Age, a period roughly spanning the 2nd millennium BC (ca. 2000–1200 BC) in the Near East, is frequently referred to as the first ‘international age’, characterized by intense and far-reaching contacts between different entities from the eastern Mediterranean to the Near East and beyond. In a large-scale tandem study of stable isotopes and ancient DNA of individuals excavated at Tell Atchana (Alalakh, located in Hatay, Turkey), we explored the role of mobility at the capital of a regional kingdom, named Mukish during the Late Bronze Age, which spanned the Amuq Valley and some areas beyond. We generated strontium and oxygen isotope data from dental enamel for 53 individuals and 77 individuals, respectively, and added ancient DNA data of 10 newly sequenced individuals to a dataset of 27 individuals published in 2020. Additionally, we improved the DNA coverage of one individual from this 2020 dataset. The DNA data revealed a very homogeneous gene pool. This picture of an overwhelmingly local ancestry was consistent with the evidence of local upbringing in most of the individuals indicated by the isotopic data, where only five were found to be non-local. High levels of contact, trade, and exchange of ideas and goods in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, therefore, seem not to have translated into high levels of individual mobility detectable at Tell Atchana.

Sidon on the breadth of the wild sea: Movement and diet on the Mediterranean coast in the Middle Bronze Age

“…As such, studies of broad population histories and ancestry within the Levant might not show movement in the same way isotopic investigation of individual movement would. It is worth noting that recent genomic studies in the northern Levant (Alalakh and Ebla in modern Turkey and Syria, respectively) have found extensive admixture with populations from the Caucasus and Anatolia from the Bronze Age (Ingman et al, 2021 ; Skourtanioti et al, 2020 ); this part of the Levant may have even been a stopover to more southerly regions for these northern peoples (Agranat‐Tamir et al, 2020 ). More extensive genetic analysis of Sidon might find similar movement and admixture on a wider scale.…”

“…While artifacts provide indirect evidence of human movement and contact in the past, recent scientific analyses in the wider region have revolutionized our insights beyond the movement of goods and allow direct investigation of the movement of individuals (Agranat‐Tamir et al, 2020 ; Ingman et al, 2021 ; Skourtanioti et al, 2020 ). Isotopic values from biological tissues are useful for understanding movement within an individual's lifetime, as these values can be reflective of the environment an individual lived in when these tissues were formed (Budd et al, 2004 ).…”

“…To date, no paleomobility studies have been published on human remains from Lebanon. However, strontium and oxygen isotopic data have been utilized in Bronze Age settlements Sidon might have had cultural contact and trade relations with, in the modern countries of Egypt (Stantis, Kharobi, et al, 2020 ), Jordan (Gregoricka et al, 2020 ), Syria (Sołtysiak, 2019 ; Sołtysiak, 2020 ), and southern Turkey (Ingman et al, 2021 ).…”

“…As such, studies of broad population histories and ancestry within the Levant might not show movement in the same way isotopic investigation of individual movement would. It is worth noting that recent genomic studies in the northern Levant (Alalakh and Ebla in modern Turkey and Syria, respectively) have found extensive admixture with populations from the Caucasus andAnatolia from the Bronze Age(Ingman et al, 2021;…”

Modern Dünya Sistemi, Emperyalizm ve Mesafe-Değişim Oranı Teorilerinin Uyarlama Örnekleri Işığında Yeni Bir Öneri: Tabal-Yeni Asur İlişkisi

“…90 Goldman 1956, 63;Slane 1987, 470;Lehmann 2013, 324-327. Anadolu bulguları ile bağlantılı olarak yapılan antik DNA çalışmaları Geç Tunç Çağı'na kadar genetik devamlılığın olduğunu göstermektedir (Skourtanioti et al 2020(Skourtanioti et al , 1168Ingman et al 2021) Buna karşın, Aşkelon'da yapılan antik DNA çalışmasında Tunç Çağı'ndan Erken Demir Çağı'na geçişe ait iskelet kalıntılarında Avrupa ile ilgili genetik kalıntılar tespit edilmiştir (Feldman et al 2019). Bu durumu Kilikya ve Amik Ovası için de kıyaslama ögesi olarak kabul edersek, Kilikya ve Amik Ovası'nda tespit edilen Geç Helladik IIIC seramiği, Doğu Akdeniz'in kültürel alandaki panoramasını anlamlı kılacaktır (Badre 2006;Venturi 2010;Ünlü 2015;Koehl 2020).…”