Divergence, diet, and disease: the identification of group identity, landscape use, health, and mobility in the fifth- to sixth-century AD burial community of Echt, the Netherlands

This study aims to better understand the development of group identity, mobility, and health in the Early Medieval Meuse Valley. This is achieved by combining existing demographic and palaeopathological information from 73 cremation deposits from Echt, the Netherlands, with new strontium isotope ratios (Sr-87/Sr-86) and strontium concentrations ([Sr]) that are performed on pars petrosa, diaphysis, and rib fragments. Although the surrounding Early Medieval cemeteries practiced inhumation, the initial burial community of Echt persisted in expressing the divergent burial ritual of cremation. Thirty-two radiocarbon dates demonstrate the fifth- to sixth-century cremation deposits to be chronologically separated from the seventh-century inhumations that were preserved in situ, suggesting a subsequent burial community replaced cremation with inhumation in the seventh century. Nutritionally inadequate diets may have contributed to the relatively high prevalence of porotic hyperostosis (similar to 34%), resulting from decreasing foods supplies caused by deteriorating climatic conditions. The inhabitants are postulated to have mainly consumed foods originating from the land directly surrounding their farmsteads, expressed by the great variability in the Sr-87/Sr-86 of the diaphyses and ribs (0.7096 to 0.7131), matching the geological complexity of the area. The lack of significant differences between the Sr-87/Sr-86 and [Sr] of ribs and diaphyses connotes little change in the geological origin of the foods occurred over time, stressing the importance of the yield of local harvests. In contrast, large differences in childhood (i.e. pars petrosa) vs. adult (i.e. ribs and diaphyses) Sr-87/Sr-86 suggest the regional movement of individuals to possibly support inter-farmstead relationships (e.g. via marriages).

Automated summary

This study combines existing demographic and palaeopathological information with new strontium isotope ratios and concentrations to investigate group identity, mobility, and health in the Early Medieval Meuse Valley. The research reveals that nutritionally inadequate diets may have contributed to poor health outcomes, and that inhabitants mainly consumed foods from the land surrounding their farmsteads. Additionally, strontium isotope analysis suggests little change in the geological origin of foods over time, while differences in strontium ratios between childhood and adult individuals indicate regional movement possibly for inter-farmstead relationships.