Breaking Traditions: An Isotopic Study on the Changing Funerary Practices in the Dutch Iron Age (800–12 bc) |
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Authors: | L. M. Kootker C. Geerdink P. W. van den Broeke H. Kars G. R. Davies |
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Affiliation: | 1. Geology & Geochemistry cluster, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands;2. CLUE+, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands;3. Bureau Leefomgevingskwaliteit/Archeologie, Gemeente Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands |
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Abstract: | Urnfields in the Dutch river area were replaced by cemeteries with a mixture of cremation and inhumation graves around the sixth century bc . This study provides the first biogeochemical evidence that the Iron Age communities were heterogeneous in terms of geological origins. The high percentage of non‐locally born individuals (~48%) supports the hypothesis that the change in burial practice was the result of the influx of foreign people, who were being allowed to keep their own burial customs, whereas some of the local inhabitants adapted the burial rites of foreign cultures, leading to a heterogeneous burial rite for some centuries. |
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Keywords: | palaeomobility strontium isotope analysis burial rite Iron Age the Netherlands |
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