Our Bones, who art contaminated : Glues, strontium isotopes, and mobility in early Swedish Christians

• Main Author: Wathen, Crista Adelle
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för arkeologi och antikens kultur 2022
• Subjects: Strontium isotopes; contamination; conservation; glues; Christianity; mobility; early Christians; Sweden; Varnhem; Västerhus; bones; teeth; Archaeology; Arkeologi; Mount Small; Northern Sweden
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-207800

This thesis aims to build upon previous research into contamination and its effects on isotopes by focusing on the strontium isotopic ratio (87Sr/86Sr), which is used in mobility studies to study the movements of past humans and animals and to build past economic trading networks. Contamination is a broad topic, and in the scope of this thesis, it concerns the introduction of contaminants from the soil after interment and the post-excavation preservation efforts. Due to these effects, this thesis analyzed three types of adhesives and consolidants that were or are still in use. These include strontium-containing glues, specifically animal-based glues, as well as “Karlsons klister,” which was identified as polyvinyl acetate, and epoxy resins. The latter are used to stabilize and mount small materials, such as otoliths. In addition, this thesis aims to focus on the methodological development of pretreatment methods for bones, using the Swedish Early Christians as a focus and comparing the results to the tooth enamel of the same individuals. The Christianization period in Sweden overlaps the Late Viking Age and the Early Medieval period, between the 8th and the 11th centuries. This period saw dynamic changes, which initiated the movement of people to Christianized areas. Two sites were the primary focus of this thesis, Varnhem in southwestern Sweden, which contains one of the earliest Christian communities in Sweden, and Västerhus, a well-studied site in northern Sweden, which was constructed during a period of rapid infrastructure growth. These two sites not only differ in period of use, and cemetery size, but also in regard to whether individuals were local or non-local based on their 87Sr/86Sr results. In addition, this thesis introduces the differences in individual diets using carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. Four experiments were conducted for this thesis: two were manual contamination experiments on uncontaminated modern skeletal tissues, horse bone and cod otoliths, which were contaminated with animal-based ...