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

作者：Mikael Larsson, Ola Magnell, Amy Styring, Per Lagerås, Jane Evans · 发表于：STAR Science & Technology of Archaeological Research · 年份：2020 · DOI：10.1080/20548923.2020.1840121 · 被引用次数：20 · 研究领域：Archaeology and ancient environmental studies、Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology、Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

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.