Abstract
ABSTRACT In this paper, we examine the exchange of crops and livestock through the application of strontium (87Sr/86Sr) isotope analysis on cereal grains and faunal tooth enamel from the regional center of Uppåkra and three nearby settlements in Scania, southern Sweden, dating to the first millennium AD. Around a third of the fauna have non-local 87Sr/86Sr values, indicating the import of livestock from several different regions. After cleaning, almost all of the cereal grains have non-local 87Sr/86Sr values, which is surprising given the nearby abundance of fertile agricultural soils. We therefore suggest considering non-locally grown crops to be those whose 87Sr/86Sr values fall outside the normal distribution; if this approach is used, around 20% of the analyzed crop samples are interpreted as having grown non-locally. This study demonstrates the potential of combining strontium isotopic data of archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological material for gaining insights into the movement of agricultural products in prehistory.
Highlights
Several major settlements developed in the Scandinavian Iron Age (500 BC–AD 1050), which came to have central economic, political and religious functions (Hedeager 2002; Jørgensen 2009)
Figure 5. 87Sr/86Sr values of archaeological faunal tooth enamel from Uppåkra and the nearby sites of Hjärup and Stanstorp, compared to the 87Sr/86Sr values of archaeological rodent tooth enamel and modern plant samples from various bedrock types in Scania and archaeological cereal grain leachates from Uppåkra and surrounding sites
In this study we use the normal distribution of archaeological cereal grain 87Sr/86Sr values to identify likely non-locally cultivated crops, but the validity of this approach needs to be further assessed
Summary
Several major settlements developed in the Scandinavian Iron Age (500 BC–AD 1050), which came to have central economic, political and religious functions (Hedeager 2002; Jørgensen 2009). The regional center of Uppåkra, situated in southern Sweden, was one of these high-status settlements with an occupational history lasting over a millennium The artifactual record from Uppåkra has revealed a highly developed artisanship (Lindell 2001; Hårdh 2001). The material culture from the site, including finds such as Roman denarii, millefiori, fibulae, objects of glass from the European continent and Arabic silver coins, demonstrates extensive trade relations that expanded across the continent well beyond the local region. The presence of weighing scales and hack silver further underlines Uppåkra’s role as a trading center (Hårdh 2002, 2010)
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