Mapping the origins of Imperial Roman workers (1st–4th century CE) at Vagnari, Southern Italy, using 87Sr/86Sr and δ18O variability

Emery, Matthew V.; Stark, Robert J.; Murchie, Tyler J.; Elford, Spencer; Schwarcz, Henry P.; Prowse, Tracy

doi:10.1002/ajpa.23473

Cited by 37 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 94 publications

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“…The combination of both isotopes’ composition has been frequently used in mobility studies (e.g. [17–21]), as it enables the combination of two parameters that depend on geology and climatology, food and drinking water.…”

Section: Principles Of Strontium and Oxygen Isotope Analysis In Humanmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2019

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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.

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Section: Principles Of Strontium and Oxygen Isotope Analysis In Humanmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2019

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“…TAV 103 is characterized by a combination of elevated strontium and oxygen values when compared with those of Bologna, pointing to a possible origin in a location featuring older geology and relatively dry climate. Possible locations include the North-West of Central Italy, or one of the islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea (Emery et al 2018b;Giustini et al 2016). A similar origin is also suggested by the strontium and oxygen isotope ratios of TAV 58 (M1).…”

Section: Correlation Between Geographic Origin and Funerary Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 55%

“…The abundance of data have subsequently stimulated a number of multidisciplinary research projects focusing on various aspects of mobility during the Roman Empire, with a wide range of contexts including Britain, Italy, and Germany (e.g. Eckardt et al , 2014Emery et al 2018a;Emery et al 2018b;Killgrove 2010b; Killgrove and Montgomery 2016;Prowse et al 2010;Schweissing and Grupe 2003;Stark 2017).…”

Section: Roman Mobility and Irregular Burial Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Different in death: Different in life? Diet and mobility correlates of irregular burials in a Roman necropolis from Bologna (Northern Italy, 1st–4th century CE)

Milella

Gerling

Doppler

et al. 2019

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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The study of migration within the Roman Empire has been a focus of the bioarchaeological and biogeochemical research during the last decade. The possible association of diet and sex, age, and funerary treatment during the 1 st-4 th centuries AD have been extensively explored in Britain, and Central-Southern Italy. Conversely, no knowledge is available about these processes for the North of the Italian Peninsula. In the present work we analyse a set (N=16) of Roman inhumations from Bologna (Northern Italy, 1 st-4 th c. AD), some of which are characterized by unusual features (prone depositions, transfixion of the skeleton by iron nails). Analysis of strontium, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon isotopes is used to test for the possible correlation between funerary treatment, geographic origin, and diet. Here we provide the first biogeochemical data for a Northern Italian Imperial sample, wherein our results show no clear association between these variables, suggesting that funerary variability, at least in the analysed context, was shaped by a variety of heterogeneous factors, and not a representation of vertical social differences or differential geographic origins

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“…If the change in values had been caused by ingesting altered water, as suggested by Brettell, Montgomery, and Evans (2012), we would expect all three individuals to have the same values. Further research on mobility from Roman Switzerland, similar to the work done by Emery et al (2018) in Italy, Schweissing and Grupe (2003) in Bavaria, and Lightfoot, Slaus, and O'Connell (2014) in Croatia, would allow for a more detailed analysis the movement of individuals from Aventicum.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…These two individuals also engaged in mobility during their later childhood, suggesting that there was a repeat of deficiency‐causing factors such as limited sun exposure, covering clothing, and insufficient diet, whereas for the individual who stayed in the region, the factors ended in childhood. As noted by Emery et al (), there is a prohibitively limiting number of migration and mobility studies from other parts of the Empire, and further work in these areas would allow for a detailed and nuanced analysis of mobility and health across the vast landmass of the Empire.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobility and rickets: Investigating Vitamin D deficiency and regional mobility in Aventicum, Roman Switzerland (first to third century CE)

Peacock

Bourbou

D’Ortenzio

et al. 2019

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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The aims of this study are twofold: first, to consider Vitamin D deficiency during two periods of growth and, second, consider Vitamin D deficiency with respect to evidence for migration and mobility in a skeletal assemblage (n = 169) from Aventicum, Roman Switzerland (first to third century CE). Vitamin D deficiency was evaluated macroscopically, and individuals with evidence of Vitamin D deficiency (n = 3) were assessed histologically for interglobular dentine. Dentine was examined from teeth that span from 6 months to 18 years of age. Enamel from an incisor and third molar of possibly deficient individuals were also explored for evidence of migration using oxygen isotope analysis. The only skeletal evidence for Vitamin D deficiency occurred in three adult individuals (two males and one female, all aged 25–35). All three individuals showed skeletal and histological evidence of early childhood deficiency. Further, two individuals presented histological evidence of deficiency associated with pubertal growth. Isotopic values in the incisors of all three individuals were in keeping with geographic origins in Central and Eastern Europe; however, the two with evidence for pubertal deficiency had higher δ18O values (by 1.3‰) in their third molars, whereas the individual with no evidence of pubertal rickets did not. The overall lack of Vitamin D deficiency at Aventicum is rare when compared with other urban Roman sites. For the three individuals with evidence of deficiency, one suggestion is that they may have moved from elsewhere. The mobility of the two individuals with pubertal rickets suggests that risks for repeat deficiency were affected by their location. As this is the first study to consider osteological and histological evidence for Vitamin D deficiency in conjunction with isotopic evidence of mobility, further studies of mobility and health across the Empire are required.

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Mapping the origins of Imperial Roman workers (1st–4th century CE) at Vagnari, Southern Italy, using ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and δ¹⁸O variability

Cited by 37 publications

References 94 publications

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

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

Different in death: Different in life? Diet and mobility correlates of irregular burials in a Roman necropolis from Bologna (Northern Italy, 1st–4th century CE)

Mobility and rickets: Investigating Vitamin D deficiency and regional mobility in Aventicum, Roman Switzerland (first to third century CE)

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