Mothers on the Move? Sex- and Age-Related Differences in 87Sr/86Sr in Late Bronze-Early Iron Age Tilburg-Udenhoutseweg, the Netherlands

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Integrating Isotope Analyses: The State of Play and Future Directions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The urnfield cemetery of Tilburg-Udenhoutseweg was excavated in 2020 yielding a total of 230 cremation graves dating to the Late Bronze-Iron Age. The cremation graves were distributed over the entire cemetery as part of burial monuments, in clusters, or as individual graves. Osteological analyses of all the cremation deposits demonstrated the presence of 234 individuals, of which 69 nonadults, 107 adults, and 58 indeterminate. Of the adults that allowed sex estimation, 21 were female and 27 male. More than 90% (106/109) of the individuals had 87Sr/86Sr that matched the range in and around Tilburg (0.7091 – 0.7126). Only 3 individuals had higher 87Sr/86Sr (0.7127; 0.7128; 0.7146). Interestingly, the highest 87Sr/86Sr were observed in nonadults (including two of the outliers). In addition, the mean 87Sr/86Sr of females (0.7107) is statistically significantly higher than the male mean (0.7099), showing an age- and sex-related difference in diet. Apart from nonadult G300 that had 87Sr/86Sr of 0.7146 which does not seem to be present in the Netherlands, large-scale long distance mobility cannot be inferred. However, the age- and sex-related difference in 87Sr/86Sr could be indicative of more localized mobility. This paper demonstrates the importance of high resolution 87Sr/86Sr to reveal sociocultural patterns within past societies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• Integrating Isotope Analyses: The State of Play and Future Directions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39893.0