The Early-Merovingian Cemetery in München-Perlach (Bavaria) – Analysing Skeletal Morphology, Health and Disease and Strontium Isotope Ratios

Kristin von Heyking, Stephanie Zintl

The Early-Merovingian Cemetery in München-Perlach (Bavaria) – Analysing Skeletal Morphology, Health and Disease and Strontium Isotope Ratios

Číslo: 1/2016
Periodikum: Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica

Klíčová slova: Early Middle Ages, cemetery, Bavaria, living conditions, personal mobility, stress marker, cribra orbitalia, enamel hypoplasia, strontium isotopes analysis, Ranní středověk, hřbitov, Bavorsko, životní podmínky, mobilita osob, stresový marker, hypoplázie smaltu, analýza izotopů stroncia

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Anotace: The present study focuses on the living conditions and mobility of individuals buried in München-Perlach at around 500 AD, using archaeological, morphological and archaeometric methods. The

sex, age at death, and body height of each individual were ascertained with the aid of orphological
examination techniques. The skeletal series is characterised by a balanced sex distribution and a
surprisingly high life expectancy for Merovingian times. Compared to the contemporary, (possibly)
high status collectives Unterhaching and Burgweinting the morphological stress markers cribra
orbitalia and enamel hypoplasia suggest slightly less favourable living conditions for the München-Perlach individuals. However, it has to be stressed that further research and more comparative studies are needed to interpret these results.
The isotopic analyses of strontium ratios of the tooth enamel of 29 individuals from the München-Perlach cemetery suggest that at least four individuals did not grow up in the region. The strontium
signatures of these four people indicate that they consumed food from a granite or volcanic geologic substrate in their childhood, which identifies them as foreign to the region where they were buried.