Angela
Elite member
- Messages
- 21,823
- Reaction score
- 12,329
- Points
- 113
- Ethnic group
- Italian
See: Claudio Cavazzuti et al:
"Flows of people in villages and large centres in Bronze Age Italy through strontium and oxygen isotopes"
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0209693
"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."
The rise and the fall of the Terramare culture is consequently understood as closely tied to the process that involved the transformation of village communities in Northern Italy into a more articulated network based on ‘nodes’ and dependent communities, a political model possibly inspired by eastern precedents, but largely independent and locally interpreted, to judge by the isotopic evidence presented below.
Another distinctive feature of the Terramare culture is the widespread adoption of the ‘urnfield’ model as a funerary custom, probably around 1450 cal. BC, significantly earlier than the establishment of the ‘Urnenfelderkultur’ in other areas of Italy, Europe and the Mediterranean [12]. The transition from flat inhumation burial to cremation and internment in urns has been interpreted by archaeologists as reflecting a population shift due to the migration of ‘Italici incineratori’ (‘cremating Italians’) to Northern Italy from the Alpine/Danube areas [13–16]. Although this hypothesis has fallen out-of-fashion, individual and population mobility studies remain a fertile ground of research to test both old and new theories."
It seemed to me they came to the broad conclusion that there was a lot of movement within northern Italy for this long period, but nothing from further abroad. However, for the northern most settlement near Verona that may not be completely accurate.
Near Parma: "Sant’Eurosia, case ‘a)’ (Fig 14). In spite of the evidence of its collective mobility, the community persisted in burying their dead in the same place. No significant differences can be observed between the mobility patterns of males and females, whose origin seems largely identifiable at the site and in the hinterland area, although a small number of males might have come from north of the Po River, or from the upper Taro river Valley (geolithological zone 3). The carbon isotopes on apatite nonetheless indicates that some kind of change occurred between the social segment buried under the tumuli (generally older) and the burial group in the (generally more recent) flat graves. This discrepancy between the two groups could be related to a shift in the settlement location or of the fields where food was produced, a change in the diet/subsistence strategy, a change in climatic conditions, or a combination of factors."
Near Modena: "The Middle and Recent Bronze Age urnfield of the terramara at Casinalbo shows a different pattern of mobility. The concentration of males in a very narrow 87Sr/86Sr interval and the dispersion of females appears to suggest a high degree of patrilocality and the occurrence of exogamic practices within the immediate and/or the broader hinterland radius (Fig 14, Casinalbo case ‘c)’), a tendency that has been observed in other European Bronze Age studies, combining isotopes and mtDNA [124]. Interestingly, adult females with remoter origins are normally also those with richer grave goods."
"Only one adult male seems to have an origin in the broader hinterland, and one from an even further radius. The Casinalbo community therefore appears well-established in the local territory, with marriage customs (and perhaps fosterage practices) probably crucial for the creation and maintenance of socio-political relationships/alliances with the neighbouring communities. Considering that the site and area in general have been deeply investigated from an archaeological point of view, further isotopic investigations could produce an extremely refined picture of the dynamics of mobility on the local scale."
Near Verona:
"From the Middle and Late Bronze Age biritual cemetery at Scalvinetto (terramara at Fondo Paviani) we are able to reconstruct a much more articulated framework (Fig 14, Scalvinetto/Fondo Paviani case ‘e’). Our results, considering both strontium and oxygen isotope composition on inhumations and only strontium on cremations, suggest that 28 out of 60 individuals (47%) are not indigenous. Remarkably high 87Sr/86Sr values (>0.7110) are documented exclusively among inhumations. Regarding cremations, 19 individuals are compatible with the site baseline, 6 with the 5–20 km and 20–50 km baselines, and 5 (mostly females) possibly with further distances, though not the Alpine areas (geolithological zone 10). Concerning inhumations, the analysis of δ18O has allowed us to discriminate a considerable number of non-indigenous persons among those individuals that fall in the 5 km 87Sr/86Sr baseline. This also means that the number of outsiders could have been underestimated among the cremations. Among the inhumations, 17 individuals have been identified as non-indigenous. According to the 87Sr/86Sr results, the non-indigenous individuals show a wide spectrum of different provenances, basically from all the geolithological zones. These data reinforce the idea that the terramara at Fondo Paviani, as a consequence of its status as a ‘central place’, attracted a large number of people from different places, both from the hinterland (intra-polity networks) and from a broader radius (inter-polity networks). The occurrence of locally produced Apennine, Aegean-Mycenaean and Levantine-Cypriot Bichrome style ceramics might reflect the presence of foreign potters [125,126], although Jung has considered the possibility that Italian artisans moved (or were sent) to Greece to acquire the know-how from the local ceramic specialists and came back following an apprenticeship [127,128].
Similarly to Casinalbo, females appear to have been highly mobile, and may come from the immediate or broader hinterland, as well as further distances, especially from warmer places, to judge by the cluster with δ18O greater than 26‰. In contrast to Casinalbo, males are equally mobile. The simplest explanation seems to lie again in marriage practices, but other options cannot be discounted. Subadults, with only one exception, all seem indigenous, confirming that the analysis of younger individuals may be used to strengthen the ‘local’ isotopic signatures.
δ13C data on the enamel bioapatite have highlighted the presence of a group of individuals (as well as one animal), characterized by a substantial component of C4 plants (millet) in the diet at the age of 3–8 years of age, when the analysed teeth were forming, and another group with a C3 plant oriented regime. Further stable isotope analysis on bone collagen, and possibly on M3 apatite, as well as radiocarbon dates, might contribute to clarify the times and modes of millet introduction among the terramare [65], and/or about the phase of life when millet became an essential part of people’s diet.
" At the current stage of the research, however, we may argue that in the biritual cemetery of Scalvinetto movements of people occurred more frequently and over a broader radius among those inhumed rather than cremated. However, more mobility studies are needed for a better understanding of the transition from the practice of inhumation to the ‘urnfield model’ around the 15th century BC in Northern Italy."
There's also this:
"Strontium isotope baselines. The northern and southern parts of the Po river valley show a different amplitude of bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr baselines. In the southern district, where Sant’Eurosia and Casinalbo are located, the range is significantly narrower both in the plain and in the mountains. Therefore, human mobility within that area and across short distances is harder to retrace, while movements over a broader radius, especially from the northern side of the plain, are more easily identifiable. In the north, where Scalvinetto/Fondo Paviani is situated, the range of 87Sr/86Sr baselines is much broader, as consequence of the local and regional variety of geolithological units and hydrogeological basins forming the alluvial plain. For these reasons, the trajectories of individual human movements within the northern basin of the Po valley can be suggested with greater precision, although, for the same reasons, we must be aware of the risk of identifying as people from Northern Italy individuals from other, more distant, areas with the same isotopic signature."
So, my takeaway: BRING US THE ANCIENT DNA.
"Flows of people in villages and large centres in Bronze Age Italy through strontium and oxygen isotopes"
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0209693
"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."
The rise and the fall of the Terramare culture is consequently understood as closely tied to the process that involved the transformation of village communities in Northern Italy into a more articulated network based on ‘nodes’ and dependent communities, a political model possibly inspired by eastern precedents, but largely independent and locally interpreted, to judge by the isotopic evidence presented below.
Another distinctive feature of the Terramare culture is the widespread adoption of the ‘urnfield’ model as a funerary custom, probably around 1450 cal. BC, significantly earlier than the establishment of the ‘Urnenfelderkultur’ in other areas of Italy, Europe and the Mediterranean [12]. The transition from flat inhumation burial to cremation and internment in urns has been interpreted by archaeologists as reflecting a population shift due to the migration of ‘Italici incineratori’ (‘cremating Italians’) to Northern Italy from the Alpine/Danube areas [13–16]. Although this hypothesis has fallen out-of-fashion, individual and population mobility studies remain a fertile ground of research to test both old and new theories."
It seemed to me they came to the broad conclusion that there was a lot of movement within northern Italy for this long period, but nothing from further abroad. However, for the northern most settlement near Verona that may not be completely accurate.
Near Parma: "Sant’Eurosia, case ‘a)’ (Fig 14). In spite of the evidence of its collective mobility, the community persisted in burying their dead in the same place. No significant differences can be observed between the mobility patterns of males and females, whose origin seems largely identifiable at the site and in the hinterland area, although a small number of males might have come from north of the Po River, or from the upper Taro river Valley (geolithological zone 3). The carbon isotopes on apatite nonetheless indicates that some kind of change occurred between the social segment buried under the tumuli (generally older) and the burial group in the (generally more recent) flat graves. This discrepancy between the two groups could be related to a shift in the settlement location or of the fields where food was produced, a change in the diet/subsistence strategy, a change in climatic conditions, or a combination of factors."
Near Modena: "The Middle and Recent Bronze Age urnfield of the terramara at Casinalbo shows a different pattern of mobility. The concentration of males in a very narrow 87Sr/86Sr interval and the dispersion of females appears to suggest a high degree of patrilocality and the occurrence of exogamic practices within the immediate and/or the broader hinterland radius (Fig 14, Casinalbo case ‘c)’), a tendency that has been observed in other European Bronze Age studies, combining isotopes and mtDNA [124]. Interestingly, adult females with remoter origins are normally also those with richer grave goods."
"Only one adult male seems to have an origin in the broader hinterland, and one from an even further radius. The Casinalbo community therefore appears well-established in the local territory, with marriage customs (and perhaps fosterage practices) probably crucial for the creation and maintenance of socio-political relationships/alliances with the neighbouring communities. Considering that the site and area in general have been deeply investigated from an archaeological point of view, further isotopic investigations could produce an extremely refined picture of the dynamics of mobility on the local scale."
Near Verona:
"From the Middle and Late Bronze Age biritual cemetery at Scalvinetto (terramara at Fondo Paviani) we are able to reconstruct a much more articulated framework (Fig 14, Scalvinetto/Fondo Paviani case ‘e’). Our results, considering both strontium and oxygen isotope composition on inhumations and only strontium on cremations, suggest that 28 out of 60 individuals (47%) are not indigenous. Remarkably high 87Sr/86Sr values (>0.7110) are documented exclusively among inhumations. Regarding cremations, 19 individuals are compatible with the site baseline, 6 with the 5–20 km and 20–50 km baselines, and 5 (mostly females) possibly with further distances, though not the Alpine areas (geolithological zone 10). Concerning inhumations, the analysis of δ18O has allowed us to discriminate a considerable number of non-indigenous persons among those individuals that fall in the 5 km 87Sr/86Sr baseline. This also means that the number of outsiders could have been underestimated among the cremations. Among the inhumations, 17 individuals have been identified as non-indigenous. According to the 87Sr/86Sr results, the non-indigenous individuals show a wide spectrum of different provenances, basically from all the geolithological zones. These data reinforce the idea that the terramara at Fondo Paviani, as a consequence of its status as a ‘central place’, attracted a large number of people from different places, both from the hinterland (intra-polity networks) and from a broader radius (inter-polity networks). The occurrence of locally produced Apennine, Aegean-Mycenaean and Levantine-Cypriot Bichrome style ceramics might reflect the presence of foreign potters [125,126], although Jung has considered the possibility that Italian artisans moved (or were sent) to Greece to acquire the know-how from the local ceramic specialists and came back following an apprenticeship [127,128].
Similarly to Casinalbo, females appear to have been highly mobile, and may come from the immediate or broader hinterland, as well as further distances, especially from warmer places, to judge by the cluster with δ18O greater than 26‰. In contrast to Casinalbo, males are equally mobile. The simplest explanation seems to lie again in marriage practices, but other options cannot be discounted. Subadults, with only one exception, all seem indigenous, confirming that the analysis of younger individuals may be used to strengthen the ‘local’ isotopic signatures.
δ13C data on the enamel bioapatite have highlighted the presence of a group of individuals (as well as one animal), characterized by a substantial component of C4 plants (millet) in the diet at the age of 3–8 years of age, when the analysed teeth were forming, and another group with a C3 plant oriented regime. Further stable isotope analysis on bone collagen, and possibly on M3 apatite, as well as radiocarbon dates, might contribute to clarify the times and modes of millet introduction among the terramare [65], and/or about the phase of life when millet became an essential part of people’s diet.
" At the current stage of the research, however, we may argue that in the biritual cemetery of Scalvinetto movements of people occurred more frequently and over a broader radius among those inhumed rather than cremated. However, more mobility studies are needed for a better understanding of the transition from the practice of inhumation to the ‘urnfield model’ around the 15th century BC in Northern Italy."
There's also this:
"Strontium isotope baselines. The northern and southern parts of the Po river valley show a different amplitude of bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr baselines. In the southern district, where Sant’Eurosia and Casinalbo are located, the range is significantly narrower both in the plain and in the mountains. Therefore, human mobility within that area and across short distances is harder to retrace, while movements over a broader radius, especially from the northern side of the plain, are more easily identifiable. In the north, where Scalvinetto/Fondo Paviani is situated, the range of 87Sr/86Sr baselines is much broader, as consequence of the local and regional variety of geolithological units and hydrogeological basins forming the alluvial plain. For these reasons, the trajectories of individual human movements within the northern basin of the Po valley can be suggested with greater precision, although, for the same reasons, we must be aware of the risk of identifying as people from Northern Italy individuals from other, more distant, areas with the same isotopic signature."
So, my takeaway: BRING US THE ANCIENT DNA.
