Movement of agricultural products in the Scandinavian Iron Age during the first millennium AD: 87Sr/86Sr values of archaeological crops and animals in southern Sweden

Larsson, Mikael; Magnell, Ola; Styring, Amy; Lagerås, Per; Evans, Jane. 2020 Movement of agricultural products in the Scandinavian Iron Age during the first millennium AD: 87Sr/86Sr values of archaeological crops and animals in southern Sweden. STAR: Science & Technology of Archaeological Research, 6 (1). 96-112. 10.1080/20548923.2020.1840121

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Abstract/Summary

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.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1080/20548923.2020.1840121
ISSN:	2054-8923
Date made live:	06 Nov 2020 12:46 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/528853

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