Mobility and Population Transformation in the Carpathian Basin from the 5th to the 7th Century A.D.: Changing Societies and Identities

• Applicant: Dr. Corina Knipper
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 314018267

The Carpathian Basin is a key area for historical and archaeological research of the European Migration Period. Written sources convey a complex succession of population groups between the 5th and the 7th century AD. The most prominent among them include the Eurasian Huns and Avars, the German Goths, Gepids, and Langobards, as well as representatives of the former Roman-Pannonian and possibly also Byzantine and Slavic populations. At the same time, the archaeological record, especially cemeteries with often very richly equipped burials, discloses spatial differentiation and changes over time. However, recent investigations featured the complexity of the situation and proved the unreflective association of historical entities and archaeological groups of material culture and burial customs to be insufficient. Ethnic-cultural groups were likely dynamic and flexible entities, and exogenous assignments may rather have referred to historically acting leaders or military units than to complete population groups including women and children. Likewise changes of the archaeological record can reflect other modes of exchange than the actual movement of people, so that the importance of residential changes of individuals or groups during the Migration Period and Early Middle Ages remain largely unclear. The proposed German-Hungarian project will therefore apply modern interdisciplinary research that combines systematic archaeological investigations of material culture and grave architecture with extensive stable isotope analyses of excellently preserved human skeletal remains. Strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and oxygen isotope ratios (d18O) of tooth enamel indicate non-local origins on an individual basis, while carbon (d13C) and nitrogen isotope data (d15N) of bone collagen reflect dietary habits. In order to ensure a statistically relevant data set, the project includes about 420 individuals and comparative samples from the cemeteries of Mözs-Icsei-dülö, Szeleste, Hajdúnánás-Fürj-halom-dülö, and Keszthely-Fenékpuszta-Pusztaszentegyházi-dülö. Sampling of all individuals of these burial grounds without preselection due to grave architecture and furnishing will allow for the disclosure of evidence for group movements and identify individuals who joined the groups from elsewhere. Co-funding by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA), which has been granted in 2014, supports archeological and anthropological analyses of the investigated cemeteries as well as pilot studies for ancient DNA and stable isotope analyses. The project aims on a reflective data integration that evaluates coincidences of changes in material culture, burial customs, and frequencies of non-local individuals or subsistence strategies. This will allow developing models of individual and group movements and come to a better and more differentiated understanding of the role of residential changes, the interaction of groups, and daily lifestyles.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Hungary
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Tivadar Vida