Bioarchaeological analyses reveal long-lasting continuity at the periphery of the Late Antique Roman Empire
Margaux L.C. Depaermentier,
Ben Krause-Kyora,
Irka Hajdas,
Michael Kempf,
Thomas Kuhn,
Norbert Spichtig,
Peter-Andrew Schwarz,
Claudia Gerling
Affiliations
Margaux L.C. Depaermentier
Department of Ancient Civilizations, Prehistoric and Early Historic and Provincial Roman Archaeology, Vindonissa Professorship, University of Basel, Petersgraben 51, 4051 Basel, Switzerland; Corresponding author
Ben Krause-Kyora
Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology, Kiel University, Rosalind-Franklin-Straße 12, 24105 Kiel, Germany
Irka Hajdas
Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zurich, Otto-Stern-Weg 5 HPK H31, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
Michael Kempf
Department of Geography, Physical Geography, Landscape Ecology and Geoinformation, Kiel University, Ludewig-Meyn-Str. 8, 24098 Kiel, Germany
Thomas Kuhn
Aquatic and Isotope Biogeochemistry, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Bernoullistrasse 30, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
Department of Ancient Civilizations, Prehistoric and Early Historic and Provincial Roman Archaeology, Vindonissa Professorship, University of Basel, Petersgraben 51, 4051 Basel, Switzerland
Claudia Gerling
Department of Ancient Civilizations, Prehistoric and Early Historic and Provincial Roman Archaeology, Vindonissa Professorship, University of Basel, Petersgraben 51, 4051 Basel, Switzerland; Integrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Spalenring 145, 4055 Basel, Switzerland
Summary: The Basel-Waisenhaus burial community (Switzerland) has been traditionally interpreted as immigrated Alamans because of the location and dating of the burial ground – despite the typical late Roman funeral practices. To evaluate this hypothesis, multi-isotope and aDNA analyses were conducted on the eleven individuals buried there. The results show that the burial ground was occupied around AD 400 by people belonging largely to one family, whereas isotope and genetic records most probably point toward a regionally organized and indigenous, instead of an immigrated, community. This strengthens the recently advanced assumption that the withdrawal of the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian limes after the “Crisis of the Third Century AD” was not necessarily related to a replacement of the local population by immigrated Alamannic peoples, suggesting a long-lasting continuity of occupation at the Roman periphery at the Upper and High Rhine region.
