Strontium isotope analyses of archaeological cremated remains – new data and perspectives
Christophe Snoeck,
Christina Cheung,
Jacob I. Griffith,
Hannah F. James,
Kevin Salesse
Affiliations
Christophe Snoeck
Department of Chemistry, Research Unit: Analytical, Environmental and Geo-Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, AMGC-WE-VUB, Pleinlaan 2, Brussels 1050, Belgium; Department of Art Sciences and Archaeology, Maritime Cultures Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, Brussels 1050, Belgium; Corresponding author at: Department of Chemistry, Research Unit: Analytical, Environmental and Geo-Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, AMGC-WE-VUB, Pleinlaan 2, Brussels 1050, Belgium.
Christina Cheung
Department of Chemistry, Research Unit: Analytical, Environmental and Geo-Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, AMGC-WE-VUB, Pleinlaan 2, Brussels 1050, Belgium; Department of Art Sciences and Archaeology, Maritime Cultures Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, Brussels 1050, Belgium
Jacob I. Griffith
Department of Chemistry, Research Unit: Analytical, Environmental and Geo-Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, AMGC-WE-VUB, Pleinlaan 2, Brussels 1050, Belgium; Department of Art Sciences and Archaeology, Maritime Cultures Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, Brussels 1050, Belgium
Hannah F. James
Department of Chemistry, Research Unit: Analytical, Environmental and Geo-Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, AMGC-WE-VUB, Pleinlaan 2, Brussels 1050, Belgium; Department of Art Sciences and Archaeology, Maritime Cultures Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, Brussels 1050, Belgium
Kevin Salesse
Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, Brno 611 37, Czech Republic
Cremated human remains are commonly found in the archaeological records, especially in Europe during the Metal Ages and the Roman period. Due to the high temperatures reached during cremation (up to 1000°C), most biological information locked in the isotopic composition of different tissues is heavily altered or even destroyed. The recent demonstration that strontium isotope ratio (87Sr/86Sr) remain unaltered during cremation and are even very resistant to post-burial alterations (which is not the case in unburned bone), opened new possibility for palaeomobility studies of ancient populations that practice cremations as a funerary ritual. This paper summarizes strontium isotopic data produced over the last decade which is then deposited on the open-access platform IsoArcH (https://isoarch.eu/) for any interested parties to use. It is the first time isotopic data on cremated remains is introduced in this database, significantly extending its impact on the scientific community.
