Strontium isotope analyses of archaeological cremated remains – new data and perspectives

Abstract

Cremated human remains are commonly found in the archaeological records, especially in Europe during the Metal Ages and the Roman period. Due to the high temperatures reached during cremation (up to 1000°C), most biological information locked in the isotopic composition of different tissues is heavily altered or even destroyed. The recent demonstration that strontium isotope ratio (87Sr/86Sr) remained unaltered during cremation and was even very resistant to post-burial alterations (which is not the case of unburned bone), opened up new possibility for palaeomobility studies of ancient populations that practices cremations as a funerary ritual. This paper summarizes the strontium isotopic data produced over the last decade which is then deposited on the open-access platform IsoArcH (https://isoarch.eu/) for any interested parties to use. It is the first time isotopic data on cremated remains is introduced in this database, significantly extending its impact on the scientific community.

Keywords

• Strontium isotope analyses
• Cremations
• Mobility
• Landscape use