Conservation and Natural Sciences

Archaeological textiles recovered on two occasions from the Huldremose bog, Denmark, represent some of the best preserved and complete garments from the Danish Iron Age (500 BC–AD 800). In order to address the question regarding the provenance of the textile's raw material, we applied a recently developed method based on strontium isotopes to wool and plant fibres from these ancient garments. Textile plant fibres from Huldremose I find are of non-local provenance, whereas the wool from which the garment was made stemmed from sheep grazing on glaciomoraine soils developed on Cretaceous–Tertiary carbonate platform sediments widely found in Denmark. The Huldremose II find consists of an unusually large and well preserved garment, which is composed of wool from at least three different provenances. One source is again local, whereas the other two sources, characterized by elevated 87Sr/86Sr ratios, are compatible with geologically older (Precambrian) terrains which are typical for Northern Scandinavia, e.g. Norway or Sweden. Our study suggests that wool and plant fibres were either traded or brought as raw materials for textiles more commonly and over longer distances than previously assumed.

Strontium isotopes are used in archaeology to reconstruct human and animal migration routes. We present results of a pilot study applying strontium isotope analyses to modern sheep hair as a basis for its potential use as a provenance tracer for ancient woollen textiles. Our hydrofluoric acid-based, lipid soluble analytical protocol, also tested on a number of ancient textile fibres, allows for contamination-free, low blank strontium isotope analysis of minimal amounts of archaeological material. 87Sr/86Sr ratios of decontaminated sheep hair agree well with the compositions of biologically available (soluble) strontium fractions from the respective feeding ground soils, a translatable requirement for any potentially successful provenance tracing applied to wool textiles.

The use of wool derived from sheep (Ovis aries) hair shafts is widespread in ancient and historic textiles. Given that hair can represent a valuable source of ancient DNA, wool may represent a valuable genetic archive for studies on the domestication of the sheep. However, both the quality and content of DNA in hair shafts are known to vary, and it is possible that common treatments of wool such as dyeing may negatively impact the DNA. Using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we demonstrate that in general, short fragments of both mitochondrial and single-copy nuclear DNA can be PCR-amplified from wool derived from a variety of breeds, regardless of the body location or natural pigmentation. Furthermore, although DNA can be PCR-amplified from wool dyed with one of four common plant dyes (tansy, woad, madder, weld), the use of mordants such as alum or iron leads to considerable DNA degradation. Lastly, we demonstrate that mtDNA at least can be PCR-amplified, cloned and sequenced from a range of archaeological and historic Danish, Flemmish and Greenlandic wool textile samples. In summary, our data suggest that wool offers a promising source for future ancient mitochondrial DNA studies.

Textile research has become an important field of archaeology. Although the established analytical methods are often viewed as specialized, their integration with other interdisciplinary approaches allows us to deal with broader archaeological issues and provides the interpretational base for a much more comprehensive investigation of textiles in ancient times. Analyses of fibres, dyes, archaeobotanical and archaeozoological remains, as well as palaeoenvironmental and geochemical investigations, provide information about available resources, while tool studies, experimental testing, and visual grouping are approaches that explore the technology and techniques. Together, these approaches can provide new knowledge about textile production and consumption and, thereby, about people and society in ancient times.

Strontium isotopes are used in archaeology to reconstruct human and animal migration routes. We present results of a pilot study applying strontium isotope analyses to modern sheep hair as a basis for its potential use as a provenance tracer for ancient woollen textiles. Our hydrofluoric acid-based, lipid soluble analytical protocol, also tested on a number of ancient textile fibres, allows for contamination-free, low blank strontium isotope analysis of minimal amounts of archaeological material. 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios of decontaminated sheep hair agree well with the compositions of biologically available (soluble) strontium fractions from the respective feeding ground soils, a translatable requirement for any potentially successful provenance tracing applied to wool textiles.

It is generally assumed that the production of plant fibre textiles in ancient Europe, especially woven textiles for clothing, was closely linked to the development of agriculture through the use of cultivated textile plants (flax, hemp). Here we present a new investigation of the 2800 year old Lusehøj Bronze Age Textile from Voldtofte, Denmark, which challenges this assumption. We show that the textile is made of imported nettle, most probably from the Kärnten-Steiermark region, an area which at the time had an otherwise established flax production. Our results thus suggest that the production of woven plant fibre textiles in Bronze Age Europe was based not only on cultivated textile plants but also on the targeted exploitation of wild plants. The Lusehøj find points to a hitherto unrecognized role of nettle as an important textile plant and suggests the need for a re-evaluation of textile production resource management in prehistoric Europe.

Dental enamel is currently of high informative value in studies concerning childhood origin and human mobility because the strontium isotope ratio in human dental enamel is indicative of geographical origin. However, many prehistoric burials involve cremation and although strontium retains its original biological isotopic composition, even when exposed to very high temperatures, intact dental enamel is rarely preserved in cremated or burned human remains. When preserved, fragments of dental enamel may be difficult to recognize and identify. Finding a substitute material for strontium isotope analysis of burned human remains, reflecting childhood values, is hence of high priority. This is the first study comparing strontium isotope ratios from cremated and non-cremated petrous portions with enamel as indicator for childhood origin. We show how strontium isotope ratios in the otic capsule of the petrous portion of the inner ear are highly correlated with strontium isotope ratios in dental enamel from the same individual, whether inhumed or cremated. This implies that strontium isotope ratios in the petrous bone, which practically always survives cremation, are indicative of childhood origin for human skeletal remains. Hence, the petrous bone is ideal as a substitute material for strontium isotope analysis of burned human remains.

Siden 2010 har museets tvær­videnskabelige forskningsprojekt ”Førkristne kultpladser” arbejdet på at identificere og tolke en ræk­ke førkristne, rituelle pladser fra det 1. årtusinde e.Kr. i Danmark. Her præsenteres en række af de foreløbige resultater. Projektet er finansieret af A.P. Møller & Hu­stru Chastine Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond til almene Formaal. Ud­gravningerne er støttet af Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond, og blev foretaget i samarbejde med Kalundborg Museum. En blandt flere nye erkendelser er, at kulten var knyttet til faste steder ved pe­riodens store residenser, hvor stor­mændene antagelig også rådede for kultens udførelse i forbindelse med større samlinger af befolk­ningen.

By Karin M. Frei, Ashley N. Coutu, Konrad Smiarowski, Ramona Harrison, Christian K. Madsen, Jette Arneborg, Robert Frei, Gardar Guðmundsson, Søren M. Sindbæk, James Woollett, Steven Hartman, Megan Hicks and Thomas H. McGovern

Walrus-tusk ivory and walrus-hide rope were highly desired goods in Viking Age north-west Europe. New finds of walrus bone and ivory in early Viking Age contexts in Iceland are concentrated in the south-west, and suggest extensive exploitation of nearby walrus for meat, hide and ivory during the first century of settlement. In Greenland, archaeofauna suggest a very different specialized long-distance hunting of the much larger walrus populations in the Disko Bay area that brought mainly ivory to the settlement areas and eventually to European markets. New lead isotopic analysis of archaeological walrus ivory and bone from Greenland and Iceland offers a tool for identifying possible source regions of walrus ivory during the early Middle Ages. This opens possibilities for assessing the development and relative importance of hunting grounds from the point of view of exported products.

Authors: Karin M. Frei (a)*, Ashley N. Coutu (b), Konrad Smiarowski (c), Ramona Harrison (c), Christian K. Madsen (d), Jette Arneborg (d), Robert Frei (e), Gardar Guðmundsson (f), Søren M. Sindbæk (g), James Woollett (h), Steven Hartman (i), Megan Hicks (c) & Thomas H. McGovern (c)

Walrus-tusk ivory and walrus-hide rope were highly desired goods in Viking Age north-west Europe. New finds of walrus bone and ivory in early Viking Age contexts in Iceland are concentrated in the south-west, and suggest extensive exploitation of nearby walrus for meat, hide and ivory during the first century of settlement. In Greenland, archaeofauna suggest a very different specialized long-distance hunting of the much larger walrus populations in the Disko Bay area that brought mainly ivory to the settlement areas and eventually to European markets. New lead isotopic analysis of archaeological walrus ivory and bone from Greenland and Iceland offers a tool for identifying possible source regions of walrus ivory during the early Middle Ages. This opens possibilities for assessing the development and relative importance of hunting grounds from the point of view of exported products.

DOI:10.1080/00438243.2015.1025912 

Author affiliations (a) National Museum of Denmark, Environmental Archaeology and Material Science Laboratories (b) University of Cape Town (c) City University of New York (d) National Museum of Denmark (e) University of Copenhagen (f) Archaeological Institute of Iceland (g) Aarhus University (h) Université Laval in Quebec (i) Mid Sweden University

Author biographies
Karin Frei is a senior researcher at the National Museum of Denmark, Environmental Archaeology and Material Science Laboratories. Karin M. Frei conducted laboratory experiments on walrus tusks and developed methodological setup for lead isotope extraction from walrus tusks. Furthermore, contributed to the interpretation of the lead isotope data, to the writing of the manuscript and research grant application.

Ashley Coutu is a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellow currently based at the Dept. of Archaeology University of Cape Town South Africa. Ashely N. Coutu contributed with sample preparation and conducted laboratory experiments on walrus tusks guided by KMF and RF.

Konrad Smiarowski is a senior doctoral student specializing in Greenlandic zooarchaeology at the City University of New York Doctoral Program in Anthropology. Konrad Smiarowski carried out zooarchaeological analyses of bone collections from Greenland, provided quantitative data and contributed to writing.

Ramona Harrison is a post-doctoral fellow of the NSF funded Comparative Island Ecodynamics Project specializing in the zooarchaeology of Iceland, currently based at the Zooarchaeology Laboratory Hunter College City University of New York. Ramona Harrison contributed newly synthesized information on Icelandic zooarchaeological data and was involved in editing and writing.

Christian Koch Madsen is a post-doctoral researcher at the National Museum of Denmark specializing in the archaeology of Norse Greenland. Christian K. Madsen contributed with samples and archaeological data from Greenland, interpretation, writing and editing.

Jette Arneborg is Curator and senior researcher at the National Museum of Denmark specializing in the archaeology of Norse Greenland. Jette Arneborg contributed access to samples and archaeological data from Greenland, interpretation, writing and editing.

Robert Frei is Professor of Geochemistry and Research Group Leader at the Department of Geoscience and Natural Resource Management at the University of Copenhagen. Robert Frei provided access to the laboratory facilities at the Department of Geoscience and Natural Resource Management (University of Copenhagen). Conducted laboratory experiments on walrus tusks and developed methodological setup for lead isotope extraction from walrus tusks. Furthermore, contributed to the interpretation of the lead isotope data, to the writing of the manuscript and research grant application.

Gardar Guðmundsson is a senior researcher at the Archaeological Institute of Iceland, specializing in the archaeology of Iceland and Greenland. Gardar Guðmundsson organized the loan of the Icelandic walrus specimens.

Søren M. Sindbæk, is Professor at the Institute for Culture and Society Aarhus University, Moesgård and leader of the walrus ivory analysis project. Søren M. Sindbæk organized the sampling project and research grant application, and negotiated access to samples. Further, he contributed to the writing of the manuscript, including framing interpretation and research context.

James Woollett is Associate Professor at Université Laval in Quebec, specializing in the environmental archaeology of Labrador and Iceland. James Woollett contributed access to archaeological data, bibliographic research, writing and editing.

Steven Hartman is professor of English at Mid Sweden University and the coordinator of the NIES Nordic Network for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies http://www.miun.se/nies. Steven Hartman contributed review of Walrus references in Icelandic sagas, including textual analysis, interpretation and writing.

Megan Hicks is a senior doctoral student specializing in Icelandic zooarchaeology at the City University of New York Doctoral Program in Anthropology. Megan Hicks provided zooarchaeological data and contributed to writing.

Thomas H McGovern is professor at the City University Anthropology program and coordinator of the North Atlantic Biocultural Organization (NABO www.nabohome.org). Thomas H. McGovern contributed to writing, collecting zooarchaeological data sets and research grant application.

Ancient wool textiles recovered from archaeological sites are in many cases originally dyed with natural organic dyestuffs from vegetable sources. These include among others woad (Isatis tinctoria L.), weld (Reseda luteola L.), and madder (Rubia tinctorum L.). These dyestuffs could be a threat to the use of the strontium isotopic system as a tracer for provenance studies of ancient wool, because they could potentially contaminate the signature of the textile's raw material. We present a novel method which allows for efficient removal of organic dyestuffs in wool prior to strontium isotopic analysis. Our method is based on an oxidative release of the dyestuff constituents by ammonium peroxodisulfate [(NH 4 ) 2 S 2 O 8 ] solution, combined with hydrofluoric acid (HF) that has shown to effectively remove/dissolve adhering dust micro-particles. Our multi-analytical results show that such a pretreatment is capable of removing >98% of the originally present organic dyestuffs without significantly destroying the wool structure. The strontium isotopic ratios of the residual wool fraction after the application of the pretreatment are sensitive to the origin and, therefore, can be used as tracers for the provenance of the raw material. We propose to apply this method to ancient wool textiles in which positive identification of organic dyestuff constituents by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was made.

Ancient human mobility at the individual level is conventionally studied by the diverse application of suitable techniques (e.g. aDNA, radiogenic strontium isotopes, as well as oxygen and lead isotopes) to either hard and/or soft tissues. However, the limited preservation of coexisting hard and soft human tissues hampers the possibilities of investigating high-resolution diachronic mobility periods in the life of a single individual. Here, we present the results of a multidisciplinary study
of an exceptionally well preserved circa 3.400-year old Danish Bronze Age female find, known as the Egtved Girl. We applied biomolecular, biochemical and geochemical analyses to reconstruct her mobility and diet. We demonstrate that she originated from a place outside present day Denmark (the island of Bornholm excluded), and that she travelled back and forth over large distances during the final months of her life, while consuming a terrestrial diet with intervals of reduced protein intake. We also provide evidence that all her garments were made of non-locally produced wool. Our study advocates the huge potential of combining biomolecular and biogeochemical provenance tracer analyses to hard and soft tissues of a single ancient individual for the reconstruction of high- resolution human mobility.

Scientific Reports | 5:10431 | DOI: 10.1038/srep10431

Karin Margarita Frei1,2, Ulla Mannering1,2, Kristian Kristiansen3, Morten E. Allentoft4,
Andrew S. Wilson5, Irene Skals1, Silvana Tridico6, Marie Louise Nosch2, Eske Willerslev4,
Leon Clarke7 & Robert Frei8,9


Ancient human mobility at the individual level is conventionally studied by the diverse application
of suitable techniques (e.g. aDNA, radiogenic strontium isotopes, as well as oxygen and lead
isotopes) to either hard and/or soft tissues. However, the limited preservation of coexisting hard
and soft human tissues hampers the possibilities of investigating high-resolution diachronic mobility
periods in the life of a single individual. Here, we present the results of a multidisciplinary study
of an exceptionally well preserved circa 3.400-year old Danish Bronze Age female find, known as
the Egtved Girl. We applied biomolecular, biochemical and geochemical analyses to reconstruct her
mobility and diet. We demonstrate that she originated from a place outside present day Denmark
(the island of Bornholm excluded), and that she travelled back and forth over large distances during
the final months of her life, while consuming a terrestrial diet with intervals of reduced protein
intake. We also provide evidence that all her garments were made of non-locally produced wool.
Our study advocates the huge potential of combining biomolecular and biogeochemical provenance
tracer analyses to hard and soft tissues of a single ancient individual for the reconstruction of highresolution
human mobility.

The use of wool derived from sheep (Ovis aries) hair shafts is widespread in ancient and historic textiles. Given that hair can represent a valuable source of ancient DNA, wool may represent a valuable genetic archive for studies on the domestication of the sheep. However, both the quality and content of DNA in hair shafts are known to vary, and it is possible that common treatments of wool such as dyeing may negatively impact the DNA. Using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we demonstrate that in general, short fragments of both mitochondrial and single-copy nuclear DNA can be PCR-amplified from wool derived from a variety of breeds, regardless of the body location or natural pigmentation. Furthermore, although DNA can be PCR-amplified from wool dyed with one of four common plant dyes (tansy, woad, madder, weld), the use of mordants such as alum or iron leads to considerable DNA degradation. Lastly, we demonstrate that mtDNA at least can be PCR-amplified, cloned and sequenced from a range of archaeological and historic Danish, Flemmish and Greenlandic wool textile samples. In summary, our data suggest that wool offers a promising source for future ancient mitochondrial DNA studies.

Textile research has become an important field of archaeology. Although the established analytical methods are often viewed as specialized, their integration with other interdisciplinary approaches allows us to deal with broader archaeological issues and provides the interpretational base for a much more comprehensive investigation of textiles in ancient times. Analyses of fibres, dyes, archaeobotanical and archaeozoological remains, as well as palaeoenvironmental and geochemical investigations, provide information about available resources, while tool studies, experimental testing, and visual grouping are approaches that explore the technology and techniques. Together, these approaches can provide new knowledge about textile production and consumption and, thereby, about people and society in ancient times.

The use of wool derived from sheep (Ovis aries) hair shafts is widespread in ancient and historic textiles. Given that hair can represent a valuable source of ancient DNA, wool may represent a valuable genetic archive for studies on the domestication of the sheep. However, both the quality and content of DNA in hair shafts are known to vary, and it is possible that common treatments of wool such as dyeing may negatively impact the DNA. Using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we demonstrate that in general, short fragments of both mitochondrial and single-copy nuclear DNA can be PCR-amplified from wool derived from a variety of breeds, regardless of the body location or natural pigmentation. Furthermore, although DNA can be PCR-amplified from wool dyed with one of four common plant dyes (tansy, woad, madder, weld), the use of mordants such as alum or iron leads to considerable DNA degradation. Lastly, we demonstrate that mtDNA at least can be PCR-amplified, cloned and sequenced from a range of archaeological and historic Danish, Flemmish and Greenlandic wool textile samples. In summary, our data suggest that wool offers a promising source for future ancient mitochondrial DNA studies.

Textile research has become an important field of archaeology. Although the established analytical methods are often viewed as specialized, their integration with other interdisciplinary approaches allows us to deal with broader archaeological issues and provides the interpretational base for much more comprehensive investigation of textiles in ancient times. Analyses of fibres, dyes, archaeobotanical and archaeozoological remains, as well as palaeoenvironmental and geochemical investigations, provide information about available resources, while tool studies, experimental testing, and visual grouping are approaches that explore the technology and techniques. Together, these approaches can provide new knowledge about textile production and consumption and, thereby, about people and society in ancient times.