Cultural interaction and change: a multi-isotopic approach to the Neolithization in coastal areas

Abstract

Drawing on data from the megalithic tomb in Resmo on Öland in the Baltic Sea, we use a multi-isotopic approach, involving the systematic treatment and modelling of extensive human and faunal isotopic data (¹⁴C, δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ³⁴S and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr), along with archaeological contextual evidence, to study change and interaction. The fact that people utilize aquatic resources necessitates modelling of the sulphur and strontium isotope data, to prevent the aquatic contribution from obscuring the local terrestrial signal. It was possible to demonstrate how the people buried in Resmo went through dynamic changes in diet, mobility patterns and cultural identity during more than two millennia of burial practice: from the incipient farmers of the Funnel Beaker Culture, through the cultural encounters and transitions during the Middle Neolithic, to the newcomers furthering intensified agriculture, trade and metal craftsmanship during the Bronze Age.

Keywords:

• Stable isotope analysis
• Neolithization
• cultural interaction
• diet
• mobility
• coastal areas

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Anna Linderholm and Elin Fornander for generously sharing data from forthcoming publications. This research was funded by grants from the Swedish Research Council and the European Commission Sixth Framework, and by a post doc for LPD at the Linnaeus University in Kalmar.