Bioarchaeological analyses reveal long-lasting continuity at the periphery of the Late Antique Roman Empire

Margaux L C Depaermentier; Ben Krause-Kyora; Irka Hajdas; Michael Kempf; Thomas Kuhn; Norbert Spichtig; Peter-Andrew Schwarz; Claudia Gerling

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107034

Bioarchaeological analyses reveal long-lasting continuity at the periphery of the Late Antique Roman Empire

iScience. 2023 Jun 8;26(7):107034. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107034. eCollection 2023 Jul 21.

Authors

Margaux L C Depaermentier¹, Ben Krause-Kyora², Irka Hajdas³, Michael Kempf⁴, Thomas Kuhn⁵, Norbert Spichtig⁶, Peter-Andrew Schwarz¹, Claudia Gerling^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ancient Civilizations, Prehistoric and Early Historic and Provincial Roman Archaeology, Vindonissa Professorship, University of Basel, Petersgraben 51, 4051 Basel, Switzerland.
² Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology, Kiel University, Rosalind-Franklin-Straße 12, 24105 Kiel, Germany.
³ Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zurich, Otto-Stern-Weg 5 HPK H31, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Geography, Physical Geography, Landscape Ecology and Geoinformation, Kiel University, Ludewig-Meyn-Str. 8, 24098 Kiel, Germany.
⁵ Aquatic and Isotope Biogeochemistry, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Bernoullistrasse 30, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
⁶ Archäologische Bodenforschung Basel-Stadt, Petersgraben 11, 4001 Basel, Switzerland.
⁷ Integrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Spalenring 145, 4055 Basel, Switzerland.

Abstract

The Basel-Waisenhaus burial community (Switzerland) has been traditionally interpreted as immigrated Alamans because of the location and dating of the burial ground - despite the typical late Roman funeral practices. To evaluate this hypothesis, multi-isotope and aDNA analyses were conducted on the eleven individuals buried there. The results show that the burial ground was occupied around AD 400 by people belonging largely to one family, whereas isotope and genetic records most probably point toward a regionally organized and indigenous, instead of an immigrated, community. This strengthens the recently advanced assumption that the withdrawal of the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian limes after the "Crisis of the Third Century AD" was not necessarily related to a replacement of the local population by immigrated Alamannic peoples, suggesting a long-lasting continuity of occupation at the Roman periphery at the Upper and High Rhine region.

Keywords: Anthropology; Archeology; Evolutionary biology; Human Genetics.