Sign In
Register
HelpWelcome to DNA Forums
 |
Welcome to DNA Forums, like most online communities you must register to view or post in our community, but don't worry this is a simple free process that requires minimal information. Take advantage of it immediately, Register Now or Sign In.
|
| Guest Message © 2010 DevFuse | |
Subscribe to Distant Past
9 Comments
Yesterday I attended a stimulating one-day forum at St Anne's College Oxford: Rethinking the The Bronze Age and the Arrival of Indo-European in Atlantic Europe.
The most unexpected and exciting paper was the mischievously-titled "Dead sea connections", which of course had nothing to do with the Dead Sea. Wessex Archaeology staff reported on a fascinating site discovered in recent years on the Isle of Thanet on the south-eastern tip of England. It was probably an early landing site for arrivals in the Copper or Early Bronze Age (2400-2000 BC), who buried their elite in round barrows (burial mounds) on the highest point of the coast line overlooking what is now Pegwell Bay. At the time the Isle of Thanet really was an island. The sea channel between Thanet and the Kent mainland silted up in modern times.
As often found elsewhere, later burials cluster close to one of these barrows. This later cemetery was used from the Late Bronze Age (9th-11th centuries BC) through to the Middle Iron Age (4th century BC).
The team used isotopic analysis to find out where these people came from. Of the 22 skeletons tested, eight were local, seven were from Scandinavia, probably southern Sweden or Norway, five were from South-West Iberia and the origins of the remaining two could not be identified. Interestingly the earliest phase (Late Bronze) was the most mixed: local, Norse and Iberian. In the Early Iron Age the mixture was local and Iberian. The Middle Iron Age mixed local and Norse. Does this pattern reflect trade routes? Or was this a clan ritual site, to which people returned periodically? Ancient DNA might be able to distinguish between those two possibilities, but the cost of testing (£12,000 per bone or tooth) was prohibitive.
Wessex Archaeology has an online exhibition on the excavation at Cliffs End Farm, which can also be downloaded as pdf file.
The most unexpected and exciting paper was the mischievously-titled "Dead sea connections", which of course had nothing to do with the Dead Sea. Wessex Archaeology staff reported on a fascinating site discovered in recent years on the Isle of Thanet on the south-eastern tip of England. It was probably an early landing site for arrivals in the Copper or Early Bronze Age (2400-2000 BC), who buried their elite in round barrows (burial mounds) on the highest point of the coast line overlooking what is now Pegwell Bay. At the time the Isle of Thanet really was an island. The sea channel between Thanet and the Kent mainland silted up in modern times.
As often found elsewhere, later burials cluster close to one of these barrows. This later cemetery was used from the Late Bronze Age (9th-11th centuries BC) through to the Middle Iron Age (4th century BC).
The team used isotopic analysis to find out where these people came from. Of the 22 skeletons tested, eight were local, seven were from Scandinavia, probably southern Sweden or Norway, five were from South-West Iberia and the origins of the remaining two could not be identified. Interestingly the earliest phase (Late Bronze) was the most mixed: local, Norse and Iberian. In the Early Iron Age the mixture was local and Iberian. The Middle Iron Age mixed local and Norse. Does this pattern reflect trade routes? Or was this a clan ritual site, to which people returned periodically? Ancient DNA might be able to distinguish between those two possibilities, but the cost of testing (£12,000 per bone or tooth) was prohibitive.
Wessex Archaeology has an online exhibition on the excavation at Cliffs End Farm, which can also be downloaded as pdf file.
Categories: Uncategorized
Share This Entry:
9 Comments On This Entry
Page 1 of 1
Visvakarman
12 July 2010 - 17:48 PM
12 out of 20 were foreigners, 60%! well, that is a powerful backing to migrationists
Jean M
12 July 2010 - 18:05 PM
That point was questioned at the event. Why are isotope studies revealing so many migrants? Could there be a problem with the technique? One response from Wessex Archaeology's bone specialist Jacqueline McKinley was that these tests are usually done where people suspect migration.
That certainly is the case for the various early Bell Beaker sites where individuals have been tested, both in Britain and Central Europe. I don't know if anything alerted Wessex Archaeology to the possibility on this site. The coastal position perhaps? They seemed to have gone for isotopes mainly because of the lack of grave goods to provide clues to origin. They are glad now that they did!
That certainly is the case for the various early Bell Beaker sites where individuals have been tested, both in Britain and Central Europe. I don't know if anything alerted Wessex Archaeology to the possibility on this site. The coastal position perhaps? They seemed to have gone for isotopes mainly because of the lack of grave goods to provide clues to origin. They are glad now that they did!
Visvakarman
13 July 2010 - 10:04 AM
I wonder, there was nothing else in the graves or the bodies themselves that allow to distinguish the different populations?
Jean M
13 July 2010 - 10:44 AM
There was a frustrating (for the archaeologists) lack of grave goods generally, but a few items found came from France, the Po Valley in Italy and West/Central Europe, if I jotted things down correctly. No other distinguishing features were mentioned.
authun
15 July 2010 - 10:07 AM
Are the isotopic studies published anywhere? I'd like to know what the results were for the saxon period.
Wessex Archaeology by the way have a nice set of photos from Cliffs End Farm on flickr which includes this great photo of amber beads.
cheers
authun
Wessex Archaeology by the way have a nice set of photos from Cliffs End Farm on flickr which includes this great photo of amber beads.
cheers
authun
Jean M
15 July 2010 - 11:29 AM
The paper read last Saturday appeared to be the first place that the isotope news was broken. According to Jacqueline McKinley, a huge report on the site is in the works. The Wessex Archaeology website gives no clue about this, but they update regularly, so we can expect news of a publication to surface there.
I don't know if there were isotope studies of the Saxon burials. I hope so. The Saxon period was barely mentioned on Saturday, as the focus of the day was Bronze Age.
That's the best photo I've seen of amber beads - captured the glow of them. Thanks for pointing that out. I've spotted another photo there as well that would make a good illustration for me.
I don't know if there were isotope studies of the Saxon burials. I hope so. The Saxon period was barely mentioned on Saturday, as the focus of the day was Bronze Age.
That's the best photo I've seen of amber beads - captured the glow of them. Thanks for pointing that out. I've spotted another photo there as well that would make a good illustration for me.
katie
17 July 2010 - 06:05 AM
thanks for this Jean :) i've got many books on the history of the Isle of Thanet some very rare and some by my g.grandfather x4, I should try and copy them.
Page 1 of 1
← September 2010 →
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
