Individual geographic mobility in a Viking-Age emporium-Burial practices and strontium isotope analyses of Ribe's earliest inhabitants

PLoS One. 2020 Aug 27;15(8):e0237850. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237850. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Individual geographic mobility is a key social dynamic of early Viking-Age urbanization in Scandinavia. We present the first comprehensive geographic mobility study of Scandinavia's earliest emporium, Ribe, which emerged around AD 700 in the North Sea region of Denmark. This article presents the results of strontium isotope analyses of 21 individuals buried at Ribe, combined with an in-depth study of the varied cultural affinities reflected by the burial practices. In order to investigate geographic mobility in early life/childhood, we sampled multiple teeth and/or petrous bone of individuals, which yielded a total of 43 strontium isotope analyses. Most individuals yielded strontium isotope values that fell within a relatively narrow range, between 87Sr/86Sr = 0.709 to 0.711. Only two individuals yielded values >87Sr/86Sr = 0.711. This suggests that most of these individuals had local origins but some had cultural affinities beyond present-day Denmark. Our results raise new questions concerning our understanding of the social and cultural dynamics behind the urbanization of Scandinavia.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Geography*
  • Germany
  • Humans
  • Isotope Labeling*
  • Scandinavian and Nordic Countries
  • Strontium Isotopes / analysis*

Substances

  • Strontium Isotopes
  • Strontium-87

Grants and funding

The research presented in this article was conducted in the frame of "The City of the Dead" research project funded by the Danish Ministry of Culture Research Committee (grant no. FORM.2015-0025 to SC) with additional funding from the Beckett Foundation (to SC). The project was hosted by the Museum of Southwest Jutland and affiliated to the Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet), Aarhus University, supported by a grant from the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF grant no. 119). This study was also made possible through the support of the Carlsberg Foundation “Semper Ardens” research grant CF18-0005 (Tales of Bronze Age People to KMF) and the Carlsberg Foundation research grant CF15-0878 (Tales of Bronze Age Women to KMF). The authors would like to express their gratitude to the funders, as well as their respective institutions for supporting their work. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.