EAA2021: Abstract

The standard way to detect movement, in the case of individuals, is through strontium isotope analysis. The isotopic data on mobility indicate changes of residence, although evidence of long-distance movement is problematic for methodological reasons. Analysis of skeletal material from La Tène cemeteries across Europe shows that bio-archaeometric evidence makes no case for large migrations in the 4th century BCE or later. According to the findings so far, migrations represent smaller groups of people or individuals who changed their place of residence at least once in their lives. There is no evidence that certain groups within the population were more mobile. Therefore, the usual image of ‘Celtic migrations’ as conveyed in historical sources does not seem to be supported by interdisciplinary analysis. It is amid such fragmentary evidence that provenance analysis of material culture may be useful in addressing questions of mobility by detecting various origins for what seem to be typologically identical everyday objects. As the long-distance trade with common clothing accessories as well as the raw materials in this period is improbable, it is likely that everyday objects, like jewellery, could have been subjects of mobility as well as their owners. This contribution aims to demonstrate that geochemical data from everyday objects such as items of personal jewellery can be a useful proxy source when used in combination with bio-molecular analysis and in a context of socio-economic complexity.

strontium isotopes, Geochemistry, material evidence, La Tene period, lead isotopes

 Abstract (PDF)

Alzbeta Danielisova¹

Daniel Bursák¹