Session: #560

Regular session

The study of spatial mobility, a central component of human behaviour, has recently gained a lot of interest within the archaeological community with the rise of isotopes and trace elements ratio analyses, but also and especially with the development of new methods in genetics research for the study of ancient DNA. Whilst this approach indubitably provides the archaeological community with invaluable information on population movements such as large-scale migrations, not only does it rely on the availability of well-preserved human remains – which can be problematic in numerous archaeological contexts, but its resolution can also be limited to larger scales. Considering this, what other approaches based on more ubiquitous remains can help us recover patterns of human mobility? And how can we best leverage the information drawn from these materials to study mobility at a local, regional, or interregional scale?

This session will welcome oral and poster communications presenting the results from research projects focusing on the investigation of past human mobility through the reconstruction of the exploitation patterns of natural resources – whether they are inorganic (clay, rocks, metals, etc.) or organic (bitumen, pasturelands, etc.), depending on the study methods/proxy/multi-proxy: destructive or non-destructive (trace element ratios, isotopes ratios, geochemical sourcing, etc.). The aim of the session is to showcase the latest research on the topic as well as to generate a discussion around the different approaches in use nowadays. Study cases, methodological topics, and contributions on any geographical and chronological frameworks are welcome.

Mobility, Resource exploitation, Sourcing, Isotopes, Archaeometry

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Marie Orange (France) ^1,2,3

Adeline Vautrin (France) ⁴
Mathias Bellat (Germany) ⁵