TY - JOUR
T1 - Multi-isotope variation reveals social complexity in Viking Age Norway
AU - Strand, Lisa Mariann
AU - Leggett, Sam
AU - Skar, Birgitte
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback, which improved the article. We also thank Professor James Barrett at the NTNU University Museum, Trondheim, Professor Jan Bill at the Museum of Cultural History, Oslo, and Torkild Visnes at SINTEF, Trondheim for discussion, critical feedback, and advice on the article. We also gratefully acknowledge the help of Catherine Kneale and James Rolfe at the University of Cambridge for their technical assistance and expertise with running the mass spectrometers as well as Professor Bjørn Frengstad at the department of Geoscience and Petroleum NTNU for insightful chats. We would also like to give sincere thanks to the following funding bodies: NTNU University Museum, Department of Archaeology and Cultural History, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the Royal Norwegian Society of Science and Letters, and Sparebanken Midt-Norges gavefond til Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet. L.M.S.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Data Curation, Writing – original draft, review & editing, visualization, project administration, Funding Acquisition. [email protected] (L.M.S). S.A.L.: Software, Validation, Formal Analysis, Investigations, Data Curation (R code), Writing – Original draft and review and editing, Visualization. [email protected] (S.A.L). B.S.: Conceptualization, Supervision, Funding acquisition, writing review, and editing. [email protected] (B.S). The authors declare no competing interest.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s)
PY - 2022/10/21
Y1 - 2022/10/21
N2 - Multi-isotope studies from human remains from Viking Age graves throughout Norway allow for a deeper understanding of mobility, livelihood and social organization during the Viking Age (750–1050 CE). Based on a framework of radiocarbon dates (14C), the studied inhumation graves are distributed across a broad chronological and geographical scope, covering the Late Iron and Viking Age (c. 500–1050 CE). Results of multi-isotope analyses (δ18O/δ13C/δ15N) in tandem with a cultural historical approach question the hegemonic masculinity associated with the ‘violent Vikings’ and the apparent preconception of stationary women and mobile males in Viking Age Norway, thus challenging conjectural behavioural distinctions between women, men and children. The analysis points towards diversity following a north-south gradient in terms of dietary preferences (δ13C/δ15N), which demonstrates a higher degree of marine consumption in northern Norway, as opposed to the southern regions; similar patterns are also observed through the mobility study (δ18O), which uncovers high levels of migration in the study population.
AB - Multi-isotope studies from human remains from Viking Age graves throughout Norway allow for a deeper understanding of mobility, livelihood and social organization during the Viking Age (750–1050 CE). Based on a framework of radiocarbon dates (14C), the studied inhumation graves are distributed across a broad chronological and geographical scope, covering the Late Iron and Viking Age (c. 500–1050 CE). Results of multi-isotope analyses (δ18O/δ13C/δ15N) in tandem with a cultural historical approach question the hegemonic masculinity associated with the ‘violent Vikings’ and the apparent preconception of stationary women and mobile males in Viking Age Norway, thus challenging conjectural behavioural distinctions between women, men and children. The analysis points towards diversity following a north-south gradient in terms of dietary preferences (δ13C/δ15N), which demonstrates a higher degree of marine consumption in northern Norway, as opposed to the southern regions; similar patterns are also observed through the mobility study (δ18O), which uncovers high levels of migration in the study population.
KW - isotopes
KW - Vikings
KW - children
KW - regionality
KW - mobility
KW - diet
U2 - 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105225
DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105225
M3 - Article
SN - 2589-0042
VL - 25
SP - 1
EP - 22
JO - iScience
JF - iScience
IS - 10
M1 - 105225
ER -