Landscape Archaeology of the Late La Tène in South Pannonia: Perspectives and Possibilities of Stable Isotope Analyses

Abstract

In the long tradition of research into the La Tene period in the region of South Pannonia many questions have been raised, but economic activity, especially agriculture and cattle-breeding, have not received due attention. The existing archaeological data permit the hypothesis that both settlement and agriculture intensified during this period, and these activities may have induced changes in the landscape. However, apart from sporadic comments, this topic has not been the object of research. The development of landscape archaeology and stable isotope analyses have made possible a better understanding of the ways people moved through landscape, used and changed it. It should be borne in mind that landscapes are not only spaces out of which humans derive resources in the most rational way, but also a product, medium, and a reflexion of various individual and collective experiences on social, symbolic and historical levels. The paper discusses the possibilities and perspectives of application of stable isotope analyses of carbon and strontium in animal bones retrieved from the late La Tene settlements in South Pannonia, with the aim of verifying the existing hypotheses and formulating new ones concerning economic practices and socio-political circumstances.

Keywords

• late La Tene
• stable isotopes
• landscape archaeology
• south Pannonia
• economy
• animal bones