| 1. |
- Boethius, Adam, et al.
(författare)
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Advances and prerequisites for strontium isotope analyses through laser ablation in an aquatic context – Targeting Mid-Neolithic Baltic Sea harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus) mobility and breeding grounds
- 2024
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Ingår i: Quaternary Science Reviews. - 0277-3791. ; 331
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Harp seals (Phoca groenlandicus), once present in the Baltic Sea, now stand extinct. During the Middle Neolithic period, they held significant dietary importance for the Pitted Ware Culture hunter-fisher-gatherers in Scandinavia. Because they are no longer available for ecological studies, little is known about their specific behavioural intricacies, such as diet, mobility, and reproductive strategies. Because of the seal's pivotal role in these human societies and because they provide an interesting ecological case study on post-isolation ecological adaptation to new environmental conditions, a comprehensive investigation into Baltic Sea harp seal behaviour is warranted. In this pursuit, we employ sequential analysis of strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) in harp seal teeth sourced from archaeological contexts across three study regions. This data is harmonized with osteometric analyses from fifteen archaeological sites from the Baltic Sea area, establishing a methodological framework for comprehending the Sr isotopic pathway in a brackish water inland sea. By adopting this approach, we unveil breeding and mobility patterns of the long-extinct Baltic Sea harp seals, approximate specific breeding areas connected to each group of seals and delve into the ontogenic temporal frame governing these observed patterns. This endeavour culminates in an enriched understanding of the adaptive behaviours exhibited by Baltic Sea harp seals and equips us with the insights necessary to decipher the lifestyle of the human societies intricately intertwined with them.
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| 2. |
- Boethius, Adam, et al.
(författare)
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Assessing laser ablation multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry as a tool to study archaeological and modern human mobility through strontium isotope analyses of tooth enamel
- 2022
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Ingår i: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1866-9557 .- 1866-9565. ; 14:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To evaluate the possibility of obtaining detailed individual mobility data from archaeological teeth, the strontium isotope ratios on 28 human teeth from three separate Early-Mid Holocene, Swedish, foraging contexts (Norje Sunnansund, Skateholm and Västerbjers) were analysed through laser ablation. The teeth/individuals have previously been analysed using traditional bulk sampled thermal ionisation mass spectrometry. To validate the conclusions regarding the archaeological teeth, a tooth from a modern man with a known background was also analysed. The result shows that all of the teeth display less than 0.4% discrepancy between the mean values of the laser ablation profiles and the previously published bulk data and 25 (89%) of the teeth display less than a 0.2% discrepancy. By calculating linear and polynomial trendlines for each ablated tooth, it was possible to illustrate a strong correlation for the transition pattern between the measurements when following a chronological sequence from the tip to the cervix. Such correlations were not reproduced when the data sequence was randomized. The analyses show that the chronologically sequenced ablation data fit with a transition between local bioavailable strontium regions, that the measurements do not fluctuate between extremes and that their values are not caused by end-member mixing. This indicates an increasing data resolution when reducing strontium isotope ratio averaging time by minimizing the sampling area. The results suggest strontium incorporation in human teeth can be measured on an ordinal scale, with a traceable chronological order to enamel mineralization when sampled from tip to cervix at an equal distance from the surface. Micro-sampling enamel is considered a valid method to assess prehistoric, but not modern, human mobility; laser ablation technology increases the amount of information obtained from a single tooth while rendering minimal damage to the studied specimen.
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| 3. |
- Boethius, Adam, et al.
(författare)
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Diachronic forager mobility : untangling the Stone Age movement patterns at the sites Norje Sunnansund, Skateholm and Västerbjers through strontium isotope ratio analysis by laser ablation
- 2022
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Ingår i: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1866-9557 .- 1866-9565. ; 14:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Strontium isotope ratios in human teeth from the three Swedish prehistoric Stone Age hunter-fisher-gathering societies Norje Sunnansund (Maglemose), Skateholm (Ertebølle) and Västerbjers (Pitted Ware Culture) were analysed with laser ablation to produce data on both individual movement patterns and societal mobility trends. The analyses of teeth from both Skateholm and Västerbjers displayed homogeneous ratios and corresponding mobility patterns, while the data from Norje Sunnansund showed larger variances with heterogenous strontium ratios and varied inter-individual mobility patterns. Correlation with the bioavailable baseline suggests that the size of the geographical areas, where human strontium ratios could have originated, was roughly comparable for all three sites. The teeth measurements were reflected within a 50-km radius of the surrounding landscape and the 25–75% data quartile matched with distances between 3 and 30 km from the sites, suggesting limited mobility ranges among aquatically dependent foragers from southernmost Sweden. By applying ethnographic analogies and site-specific contextual inferences, the results suggest that mobility ranges at Norje Sunnansund were likely not delimited by neighbouring group territories. This changed over time and an increasing territorialisation of the landscape may have influenced movement patterns and caused restrictions to the foraging activities at both Skateholm and Västerbjers.
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| 4. |
- Boethius, Adam, et al.
(författare)
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Early Holocene Scandinavian foragers on a journey to affluence: Mesolithic fish exploitation, seasonal abundance and storage investigated through strontium isotope ratios by laser ablation (LA‐MC-ICP‐MS)
- 2021
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 16:1, s. e0245222-e0245222
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- At Norje Sunnansund, an Early Holocene settlement in southern Sweden, the world’s earliest evidence of fermentation has been interpreted as a method of managing long-term and large-scale food surplus. While an advanced fishery is suggested by the number of recovered fish bones, until now it has not been possible to identify the origin of the fish, or whether and how their seasonal migration was exploited. We analysed strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) in 16 cyprinid and 8 pike teeth, which were recovered at the site, both from within the fermentation pit and from different areas outside of it, by using laser ablation multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Our investigation indicates three different regions of origin for the fish at the site. We find that the most commonly fermented fish, cyprinids (roach), were caught in the autumn during their seasonal migration from the Baltic Sea to the sheltered stream and lake next to the site. This is in contrast to the cyprinids from other areas of the site, which were caught when migrating from nearby estuaries and the Baltic Sea coast during late spring. The pikes from the fermentation pit were caught in the autumn as by-catch to the mainly targeted roach while moving from the nearby Baltic Sea coast. Lastly, the pikes from outside the fermentation pit were likely caught as they migrated from nearby waters in sedimentary bedrock areas to the south of the site, to spawn in early spring. Combined, these data suggest an advanced fishery with the ability to combine optimal use of seasonal fish abundance at different times of the year. Our results offer insights into the practice of delayed-return consumption patterns, provide a more complete view of the storage system used, and increase our understanding of Early Holocene sedentism among northern hunter-fisher-gatherers. By applying advanced strontium isotope analyses to archaeological material integrated into an ecological setting, we present a methodology that can be used elsewhere to enhance our understanding of the otherwise elusive indications of storage practices and fish exploitation patterns among ancient foraging societies.
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| 5. |
- Boethius, Adam, et al.
(författare)
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Human encroachment, climate change and the loss of our archaeological organic cultural heritage : Accelerated bone deterioration at Ageröd, a revisited Scandinavian Mesolithic key-site in despair
- 2020
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 15:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ancient organic remains are essential for the reconstruction of past human lifeways and environments but are only preserved under particular conditions. Recent findings indicate that such conditions are becoming rarer and that archaeological sites with previously good preservation, are deteriorating. To investigate this, we returned to the well-known Swedish Mesolithic site Agerod I. Here we present the result of the re-excavation and the osteological analyses of the bone remains from the 1940s, 1970s and 2019 excavation campaigns of the site, to document and quantify changes in bone preservation and relate them to variations in soil conditions and on-site topography. The results indicate that the bone material has suffered from accelerated deterioration during the last 75 years. This has led to heavily degraded remains in some areas and complete destruction in others. We conclude that while Agerod can still be considered an important site, it has lost much of the properties that made it unique. If no actions are taken to secure its future preservation, the site will soon lose the organic remains that before modern encroachment and climate change had been preserved for 9000 years. Finally, because Agerod has not been subjected to more or heavier encroachment than most other archaeological sites, our results also raise questions of the state of organic preservation in other areas and call for a broad examination of our most vulnerable hidden archaeological remains.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Boethius, Adam, et al.
(författare)
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Knowledge from the ancient sea : a long-term perspective of human impact on aquatic life in Mesolithic Scandinavia
- 2020
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Ingår i: The Holocene. - : SAGE Publications. - 0959-6836 .- 1477-0911. ; 30:5, s. 632-645
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Lately, evidence for early-Holocene emerging sedentism has been suggested among foragers in Northern Europe. The core of this suggested sedentism lies in the increasing dependency on large-scale fishing and mass consumption of fish and a territorial behaviour associated with access to the best fishing locations. This territoriality might also be associated with increasing numbers of people settling and living in Northern Europe at this time. In this article, we review the evidence for forager sedentism and territoriality and relate it to large-scale fishing, during a time of global warming, in early-Holocene Scandinavia. We explore the requisites of using the archaeological record to study the long-term effect of intense fishing on some of the best-preserved Stone Age sites in the area of study. We suggest that the archaeological record can enable a discussion of how aquatic life varies corresponding to human exploitation and climate change. In addition, we discuss how these changes might be traceable through temporal fluctuations in species composition, within species size reduction/increases, temporal fish age changes and within species dietary changes. In the end, we suggest that the archaeological record holds one of the keys to predict future impact on life below the surface, by offering a long-term perspective on aquatic exploitation in a period of climate change. At the same time as we acknowledge the potential hidden in the archaeological record, we also raise the dire warning that this record might be rapidly disappearing, because of an accelerated deterioration of archaeological organic remains in areas previously known for their good preservation.
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| 8. |
- Boethius, Adam, et al.
(författare)
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Mesolithic Scandinavian foraging patterns and hunting grounds targeted through laser ablation derived 87Sr/86Sr ratios at the Early-Mid Holocene site of Huseby Klev on the west coast of Sweden
- 2022
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Ingår i: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 293
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mobility is one of the most fundamental aspects of a foraging society. Since prehistoric mobility is often difficult to identify in the archaeological record, our understanding is largely based on comparison with ethnographic communities. In recent years the application of 87Sr/86Sr isotope analysis has, however, greatly broadened our knowledge of mobility in the past. Despite this, few studies have been undertaken on faunal remains to explore their mobility patterns and infer human exploitation patterns with more precision. In this contribution we sampled 28 mammal teeth from three different occupation phases at the Early to Mid-Holocene coastal site of Huseby Klev, Sweden. We first established the local baseline for seven geographical areas in the region surrounding Huseby Klev. Then, by applying laser ablation-multi collector-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry to the selected teeth, we identified the likely origins of a range of terrestrial and marine fauna, and the possible human mobility patterns required in their exploitation. Overall, our results demonstrate that the prehistoric communities inhabiting Huseby Klev undertook both short- and long-distance forays for the exploitation of particular species. By relating inferences on hunting grounds, derived from strontium isotope data, to zooarchaeological evidence from the site and ethnographic human mobility patterns, we establish and discuss the prerequisites for landscape utilization. Lastly, we demonstrate that glacial meltwater may have temporally affected the local oceanic Sr ratios – suggesting significantly increased soil and bedrock weathering may influence the Sr values in aquatic ecosystems and, consequently, should be considered in such regions and at times of melting glaciers. By applying the method to additional sites and assemblages in the future, our understanding of prehistoric mobility will be greatly enhanced.
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| 9. |
- Boethius, Adam, et al.
(författare)
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Mobility among the stone age island foragers of Jettböle, Åland, investigated through high-resolution strontium isotope ratio analysis
- 2024
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Ingår i: Quaternary Science Reviews. - 0277-3791. ; 328
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The input of strontium from aquatic resources in an omnivorous diet has been researched to a lesser degree than that of terrestrial sources, which, in specific sociocultural settings, complicates the study of provenance and mobility. To address this lack of research and to investigate forager mobility in an archipelago environment, where access to terrestrial resources was limited and earlier studies have indicated a dependence on marine resources, we targeted the mid-Neolithic hunter-fisher-gatherers from the site Jettböle on the Åland Islands. Using laser ablation multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, we analysed the 87Sr/86Sr ratios in the enamel of human and dog teeth and contextualized the data with bioavailable Sr measurements from various water and animal enamel sources. The results show that utilization and consumption of aquatic resources have had a major impact on the Sr ratios of both humans and dogs from Jettböle. The data indicate significant differences from the local terrestrial bioavailable Sr ratios, even if the studied individuals likely grew up in the area. Our results suggest that investigations of Sr isotope ratios may be especially challenging for PWC individuals and other coastal living groups. By comparing both Sr ratios and the sequential measurement pattern from the investigated subjects to other human groups and animals it has, nevertheless, been possible to offer a tentative interpretation of both the origin and mobility patterns of humans and dogs from Jettböle. Most of the individuals may be suggested to have originated, and subsided on a diet, from within the Åland archipelago. It is also possible that some of the studied individuals moved there from different regions.
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| 10. |
- Boethius, Adam, et al.
(författare)
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Nya rön om Birkaflickan
- 2020
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Ingår i: Fornvännen. - Solna : Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien. - 0015-7813 .- 1404-9430. ; 115:4, s. 279-284
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Genom analys av hennes större mjölkkindtand (dp4-) har hennes härkomst och mobilitet synliggjorts. Totalt genomfördes 20 ablationer på flickans tand. Ablationerna gjordes med ett mellanrum på ca 140 μm och följer tandbildningen, där den första ablationen gjordes närmst kronan (som bildas först) och den sista ablationen närmst roten (som bildas sist), vilket motsvarar en ungefärlig ålder på en dryg månad efter födsel till att flickan var cirka nio månader gammal.
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