Pagan-Christian Interactions 11th to 13th Centuries CE: The Isotope Evidence

Summary

This is an abstract from the "New Work in Medieval Archaeology, Part 2: Crossing Boundaries, Materialities, and Identities" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Balts are generally recognized as the longest persisting pagan-dominated community in temperate Europe, widely practicing until the fourteenth century CE. Historical research documents that trading, raiding, and crusading often brought the Balts into direct contact with Christians in the centuries leading up to their ultimate conversion. This paper presents 87Sr/86Sr, δ18O, δ13C, and δ34S results demonstrating direct evidence for mobility of pagan groups existing within or economically entwined with their Christian neighbors between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries CE. Horses sacrificed in Balt cemeteries excavated in modern Kaliningrad and Lithuania were sourced across the Baltic Sea from Christian trade partners. Additionally, Kyivan Rus accommodated Baltic migrants buried in a pagan style. These findings establish diverse socioeconomic intermingling not previously documented between pagan and Christian groups at the end of the Long Iron Age.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New Work in Medieval Archaeology, Part 2: Crossing Boundaries, Materialities, and Identities   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38185.0