EAA 2022: Abstract

The use of Sr isotope ratios as a tracer of past human mobility has been greatly enhanced by the development of isoscapes. However, for medieval populations that sometimes traveled thousands of miles in the context of wars and raids, it is not possible to accurately determine the geographic origin of single individuals due to overlapping Sr isotope ratios of various regions with similar geologies. We recently developed a sulfur isoscape which we combined with pre-existing oxygen and strontium ones. We were thus able to define very precise probabilistic geographical assignments. In this paper, we take the example of two medieval French archaeological sites, one associated with the French-Breton war (1491) and the other with Viking raids (Rennes and Alizay-Igoville, respectively) and produced maps of probable geographical origin for individuals suspected of being soldiers in the first case, and either locals or Vikings in the second one. Our aim is to present how our conclusions would change using the Sr isoscape alone, compared to the story we were able to tell using the triple S-Sr-O isoscape.

Sulphur isotopes, French archaeology, Geochemistry, Carolingian Empire, Strontium isotopes, Oxygen isotopes

Oral presentation

  Abstract (PDF)

Klervia Jaouen²

Pauline Méjean¹
Cyril Marcigny³
Vincent Carpentier³
Rozenn Colleter^3,4
Clément Bataille⁵