Prehistoric mobility and palaeodiet in Western Eurasia - Stable isotope analysis of human populations and domesticated animals between 3500 and 300 BC. An Isotopic Approach

Questions concerning mobility and migration as well as subsistence strategies of past societies have always been of major importance in archaeological research. The West Eurasian steppes in the Eneolithic, the Early Bronze and the Iron Age were largely inhabited by cultural communities believed to show an elevated level of spatial mobility, often linked to their subsistence economy. In this volume, questions concerning the mobility and potential migration as well as the diet and economy of the West Eurasian steppes communities during the 4^th, the 3^rd and the 1^st Millennia BC are approached by applying isotope analysis, specifically ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, d¹⁸O, d¹⁵N and d¹³C analyses. Adapting a combination of different isotopic systems to a study area of vast spatial and chronological dimension allowed a wide variety of questions to be answered and establishes the beginning of a database of biogeochemical data for the West Eurasian steppes. Besides the characterisation of mobility and subsistence patterns of the archaeological communities under discussion, attempts to identify possible Early Bronze Age migrations from the steppes to the steppe-like plains in parts of Eastern Europe were made, alongside an evaluation of the applicability of isotope analysis to this context.

About the author

Claudia Gerling, Exzellenzcluster Topoi, Institut für Prähistorische Archäologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Deutschland

Product details

• Authors: Claudia Gerling
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.07.2015
• EAN: 9783110309249
• ISBN: 978-3-11-030924-9
• No. of pages: 402
• Dimensions: 215 mm x 290 mm x 30 mm
• Weight: 1686 g
• Illustrations: 185 b/w and 65 col. ill., 100 b/w tbl.
• Series: Topoi; Topoi. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World; Topoi - Berlin Studies of the Ancient World / Topoi - Berliner Studien der Alten Welt; Topoi - Berlin Studies of the Ancient World / Topoi - Berliner Studien der Alten Welt; Topoi. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World; ISSN; Topoi ¿ Berlin Studies of the Ancient World/Topoi ¿ Berliner Studien der Alten Welt, 25
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > History > Pre and early history