Pitt-Rivers Archaeological Science Seminar - Reconstructing post-marital residence with strontium isotopes in the Later Stone Age in northern Malawi

Fri 13 October 2023

McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research

The Pitt-Rivers Archaeological Science Seminar of the Michaelmas term will be by Professor Stanley Ambrose (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) on the cutting edge research reconstructing martial patterns in Later Stone Age Malawi.

Abstract: Advances in understanding of female skeletal reproductive biology and physiology can contribute to more realistic reconstructions of post-marital residence (PMR) patterns with strontium isotopes of tooth enamel. Clinical research on lead isotopes shows that in teeth formed prior to weaning, up to half the lead is derived from the maternal skeleton. If similar amounts of strontium are transferred, then pre-weaning teeth (e.g., M1 and M2) may combine the strontium isotopic composition of the area where the maternal skeleton was formed plus the maternal diet in the area occupied during lactation. Only post-weaning enamel (e.g., M3) may reflect the isotopic composition of an individual's post-weaning to sub-adult home range. Assuming childbearing begins in the PM home range, then analysis of pre- and post-weaning enamel of should reveal whether an individual’s mother was born locally (matrilocal PMR) or moved to a new location before reproduction (patrilocal or neolocal PMR). Analysis of M1, M2 and M3 of two individuals buried in a rockshelter on Mt. Hora, Malawi, located in the center of our strontium isoscape survey area, suggest patrilocal or neolocal PMR for these individuals.

Cost: Free