The Late Roman Field Army in Northern Britain? Mobility, Material Culture and Multi-Isotope Analysis at Scorton (N Yorks.)

ABSTRACTAt Hollow Banks Quarry, Scorton, located just north of Catterick (N Yorks.), a highly unusual group of 15 late Roman burials was excavated between 1998 and 2000. The small cemetery consists of almost exclusively male burials, dated to the fourth century. An unusually large proportion of these individuals was buried with crossbow brooches and belt fittings, suggesting that they may have been serving in the late Roman army or administration and may have come to Scorton from the Continent. Multi-isotope analyses (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium) of nine sufficiently well-preserved individuals indicate that seven males, all equipped with crossbow brooches and/or belt fittings, were not local to the Catterick area and that at least six of them probably came from the European mainland. Dietary (carbon and nitrogen isotope) analysis only of a tenth individual also suggests a non-local origin. At Scorton it appears that the presence of crossbow brooches and belts in the grave was more important for suggesting non-British origins than whether or not they were worn. This paper argues that cultural and social factors played a crucial part in the creation of funerary identities and highlights the need for both multi-proxy analyses and the careful contextual study of artefacts.

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Interactions between earliest Linearbandkeramik farmers and central European hunter gatherers at the dawn of European Neolithization

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-019-56029-2 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Alexey G. Nikitin ◽

Peter Stadler ◽

Nadezhda Kotova ◽

Maria Teschler-Nicola ◽

T. Douglas Price ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Central Europe ◽

Isotope Analysis ◽

Nitrogen Isotope ◽

Western Anatolia ◽

Hunter Gatherers ◽

Central European ◽

Carbon And Nitrogen ◽

Farming Communities ◽

Non Local ◽

Range Of Variation

AbstractArchaeogenetic research over the last decade has demonstrated that European Neolithic farmers (ENFs) were descended primarily from Anatolian Neolithic farmers (ANFs). ENFs, including early Neolithic central European Linearbandkeramik (LBK) farming communities, also harbored ancestry from European Mesolithic hunter gatherers (WHGs) to varying extents, reflecting admixture between ENFs and WHGs. However, the timing and other details of this process are still imperfectly understood. In this report, we provide a bioarchaeological analysis of three individuals interred at the Brunn 2 site of the Brunn am Gebirge-Wolfholz archeological complex, one of the oldest LBK sites in central Europe. Two of the individuals had a mixture of WHG-related and ANF-related ancestry, one of them with approximately 50% of each, while the third individual had approximately all ANF-related ancestry. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios for all three individuals were within the range of variation reflecting diets of other Neolithic agrarian populations. Strontium isotope analysis revealed that the ~50% WHG-ANF individual was non-local to the Brunn 2 area. Overall, our data indicate interbreeding between incoming farmers, whose ancestors ultimately came from western Anatolia, and local HGs, starting within the first few generations of the arrival of the former in central Europe, as well as highlighting the integrative nature and composition of the early LBK communities.

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Interactions between earliest Linearbandkeramik farmers and central European hunter gatherers at the dawn of European Neolithization

10.1101/741900 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Alexey G. Nikitin ◽

Peter Stadler ◽

Nadezhda Kotova ◽

Maria Teschler-Nicola ◽

T. Douglas Price ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Central Europe ◽

Isotope Analysis ◽

Nitrogen Isotope ◽

Western Anatolia ◽

Hunter Gatherers ◽

Central European ◽

Carbon And Nitrogen ◽

Farming Communities ◽

Non Local ◽

Range Of Variation

ABSTRACTArchaeogenetic research over the last decade has demonstrated that European Neolithic farmers (ENFs) were descended primarily from Anatolian Neolithic farmers (ANFs). ENFs, including early Neolithic central European Linearbandkeramik (LBK) farming communities, also harbored ancestry from European Mesolithic hunter gatherers (WHGs) to varying extents, reflecting admixture between ENFs and WHGs. However, the timing and other details of this process are still imperfectly understood. In this report, we provide a bioarchaeological analysis of three individuals interred at the Brunn 2 site of the Brunn am Gebirge-Wolfholz archeological complex, one of the oldest LBK sites in central Europe. Two of the individuals had a mixture of WHG-related and ANF-related ancestry, one of them with approximately 50% of each, while the third individual had approximately all ANF-related ancestry. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios for all three individuals were within the range of variation reflecting diets of other Neolithic agrarian populations. Strontium isotope analysis revealed that the ~50% WHG-ANF individual was non-local to the Brunn 2 area. Overall, our data indicate interbreeding between incoming farmers, whose ancestors ultimately came from western Anatolia, and local HGs, starting within the first few generations of the arrival of the former in central Europe, as well as highlighting the integrative nature and composition of the early LBK communities.

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Biographical Bodies

Early Farmers ◽

10.5871/bacad/9780197265758.003.0013 ◽

2014 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Jessica Pearson ◽

Lynn Meskell

Keyword(s):

Stable Isotopes ◽

Material Culture ◽

Isotope Analysis ◽

Nitrogen Isotope ◽

The Body ◽

Carbon And Nitrogen ◽

Body Imagery ◽

Isotope Evidence ◽

Nitrogen Isotope Analysis ◽

Palaeodietary Reconstruction

The authors attempt a reconciliation of apparently disparate evidence types relating to the body at Çatalhöyük, Turkey (7400–6000 cal BC): palaeodietary reconstruction through stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis, and body imagery as represented in the figurines, buildings and burials. Approaches to the body tend to focus upon evidence confined to specific areas of expertise or by specialisation in archaeological practice. While some of these aspects have been socialised through the consideration of human remains as material culture, for example, very little attempt has been made to do so with non-visual skeletal evidence. This is especially true for stable isotopes, which are used to reconstruct diet from food signatures that are imprinted into the skeleton. The authors show that new studies of the anthropomorphic figurines, which now suggest an importance given to ageing and maturity are corroborated by data from stable isotope evidence of diet and the burial assemblage.

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Carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of atrazine and desethylatrazine at sub-microgram per liter concentrations in groundwater

Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry ◽

10.1007/s00216-012-6616-0 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 405 (9) ◽

pp. 2857-2867 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Kathrin Schreglmann ◽

Martina Hoeche ◽

Sibylle Steinbeiss ◽

Sandra Reinnicke ◽

Martin Elsner

Keyword(s):

Isotope Analysis ◽

Nitrogen Isotope ◽

Carbon And Nitrogen ◽

Nitrogen Isotope Analysis

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Variability along the frontier: stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratio analysis of human remains from the Late Roman–Early Byzantine cemetery site of Joan Planells, Ibiza, Spain

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences ◽

10.1007/s12520-018-0656-0 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (8) ◽

pp. 3783-3796 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Aleksa K. Alaica ◽

Jessica Schalburg-Clayton ◽

Alan Dalton ◽

Elena Kranioti ◽

Glenda Graziani Echávarri ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Isotope Ratio ◽

Human Remains ◽

Nitrogen Isotope ◽

Ratio Analysis ◽

Stable Carbon ◽

Nitrogen Isotope Ratio ◽

Carbon And Nitrogen ◽

Isotope Ratio Analysis ◽

Early Byzantine ◽

Late Roman

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Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis and Romano-British animal management along the Ridgeway, Oxfordshire

Journal of Archaeological Science Reports ◽

10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.103254 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 40 ◽

pp. 103254

Author(s):

Anastasia Iorga ◽

Chris Gosden ◽

Gary Lock ◽

Rick Schulting

Keyword(s):

Isotope Analysis ◽

Nitrogen Isotope ◽

Stable Carbon ◽

Carbon And Nitrogen ◽

Animal Management ◽

Nitrogen Isotope Analysis

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The Use of Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotope Analysis to Characterize Food Web Changes in Aquatic Systems for Reclamation of Oil Sands Process-Affected Materials

Water Quality Research Journal ◽

10.2166/wqrj.2009.032 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 44 (4) ◽

pp. 313-322 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Monalisa Elshayeb ◽

Michael D. MacKinnon ◽

D. George Dixon ◽

Michael Power

Keyword(s):

Food Web ◽

Oil Sands ◽

Isotope Analysis ◽

Naphthenic Acid ◽

Carbon Sources ◽

Nitrogen Isotope ◽

Isotopic Signatures ◽

Carbon And Nitrogen ◽

Aquatic Food ◽

Northern Alberta

Abstract One strategy for reclamation of oil sands leases in northern Alberta is the construction of lakes and wetlands by capping oil sands process-affected material (OSPM) with water. To assess this approach, experimental sites containing a range of OSPM have been constructed to monitor the evolution of the resulting aquatic habitats. Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen were used to assess the effects of OSPM on aquatic food webs. Carbon and nitrogen isotopic signatures of sediment, dissolved inorganic and organic carbon, particulate organic matter, periphyton, plants, plankton, aquatic invertebrates, and fish were used to assess differences related to the naphthenic acid (NA) concentration in OSPM and reference sites. NAs are a principal contaminant of concern in OSPM. Sites were grouped into low (0 to 4 mg/L), medium (4 to 15 mg/L), and high (>15 mg/L) NA concentrations. There were no significant differences in food web area or length among the three NA groupings. In most cases, carbon isotope analyses of samples from low, medium, and high NA concentration sites were not significantly different, suggesting that OSPM is not a significant contributor to food web carbon sources. Significant differences were found in nitrogen isotope signatures between low, medium, and high NA sites. Ammonia from OSPM is suggested as the main contributor to δ15N enrichment.

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