EAA 2022: Abstract

The southern Upper Rhine valley of Eastern France, Southwest Germany and Northern Switzerland is a fertile landscape, which was settled throughout pre and early history. A recent research project focused on the burials and settlements of the Hallstatt and early La Latène period along both sides of the Rhine River in Alsace and in the Breisgau area. Embedded in an interdisciplinary approach, isotope analysis of strontium, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen of human and animal remains aimed at exploring diet, mobility and landscape use of the Iron Age population. The geological properties of the area cause considerable variation in the isotopic composition of the biologically available strontium. Loess and riverine sediments prevail in the plain, the Vosges and the Black Forest consist of granites and gneisses, and the Kaiserstuhl hills have a core of Tertiary volcanic rocks. These circumstances are advantageous to explore ancient patterns of landscape use and the spatial organization of animal husbandry. However, at the same time, they challenge the identification of human and animal individuals that are non-local to specific sites and the research area in general. Using examples from Iron Age burial mounds and settlements from both sides of the Rhine River, the paper contributes to a differentiated evaluation of possibilities and limitations of Sr isotope analysis in a geologically variable landscape.

Biologically available strontium, Animal husbandry, Human mobility, Teeth

Oral presentation

  Abstract (PDF)

Corina Knipper²

Andrea Bräuning⁴
Imma Kilian³
Suzanne Plouin⁵
Muriel Roth-Zehner^1,5
Elisabeth Stephan⁴