Exploring mobility in Bronze Age Greece: A Sr isotope perspective
13 affiliations
- 1Department of Research, Collections and Conservation, Environmental Archaeology and Materials Science, National Museum of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
- 2Institute for Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology and Archaeology of the Roman Provinces, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
- 3The Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Athens, Greece
- 4Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- 5Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 6Groningen Institute of Archaeology, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
- 7Aix Marseille University, CNRS, CCJ, Aix-en-Provence, France
- 8Department of History and Archaeology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
- 9Ministry of Culture, Athens, Greece
- 10German Archaeological Institute, Athens, Greece
- 11British School at Athens, Athens, Greece
- 12Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture Research Centre (STARC), The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus
- 13Globe Institute, Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark
Abstract
The Mediterranean region saw significant socio-economic and cultural transformations during the Bronze Age, varying across regions and through time. Expanding exchange networks played an important role in these developments by connecting distant communities. To what extent these exchanges were accompanied by the migration and settlement of foreign individuals within local communities is still poorly understood. Here we present Sr isotope data from 199 skeletal samples belonging to individuals excavated at six archaeological sites from central and southern Greece to explore how mobility changed throughout the Bronze Age and whether it was driven by specific factors. In order to identify foreign individuals to the investigated sites we further established site specific Sr isotope baselines for their surrounding area based on published data as well as for the sites themselves based on the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr signatures of the buried individuals themselves. The comparison of the individuals’ ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr signatures to respective baselines revealed 17 non-locals, all of which could have come from other parts of Greece. Migration or mobility towards communities in central and southern Greece likely appeared at a fairly consistent rate throughout the Bronze Age as no more than 5% − 10% non-locals could be identified throughout different stages of the Bronze Age. The non-locals included individuals of both genders, revealing no clear gender biases on mobility, while the approximate age of the identified non-locals indicates that individuals had most likely moved as young adults. It is therefore likely that mobility involved individuals rather than the resettlement of entire families. By linking individual Sr isotope data from multiple archaeological sites, this study reveals complex mobility patterns characterized by multidirectional movement driven by diverse cultural and economic factors.
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BibTeX
@article{frank2026exploring,
title = {{Exploring mobility in Bronze Age Greece: A Sr isotope perspective}},
author = {Anja B. Frank and Ioanna Moutafi and Serena Sabatini and Robert Frei and Sofia Voutsaki and Raphaël Orgeolet and Vassilis Lambrinoudakis and Lazaros Kolonas and Jörg Rambach and Michael Boyd and Evi Margaritis and Kristian Kristiansen and Karin M. Frei},
journal = {PLOS One},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0357576},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0357576},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Exploring mobility in Bronze Age Greece: A Sr isotope perspective
AU - Anja B. Frank
AU - Ioanna Moutafi
AU - Serena Sabatini
AU - Robert Frei
AU - Sofia Voutsaki
AU - Raphaël Orgeolet
AU - Vassilis Lambrinoudakis
AU - Lazaros Kolonas
AU - Jörg Rambach
AU - Michael Boyd
AU - Evi Margaritis
AU - Kristian Kristiansen
AU - Karin M. Frei
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
JO - PLOS One
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0357576
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0357576
AB - The Mediterranean region saw significant socio-economic and cultural transformations during the Bronze Age, varying across regions and through time. Expanding exchange networks played an important role in these developments by connecting distant communities. To what extent these exchanges were accompanied by the migration and settlement of foreign individuals within local communities is still poorly understood. Here we present Sr isotope data from 199 skeletal samples belonging to individuals excavated at six archaeological sites from central and southern Greece to explore how mobility changed throughout the Bronze Age and whether it was driven by specific factors. In order to identify foreign individuals to the investigated sites we further established site specific Sr isotope baselines for their surrounding area based on published data as well as for the sites themselves based on the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr signatures of the buried individuals themselves. The comparison of the individuals’ ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr signatures to respective baselines revealed 17 non-locals, all of which could have come from other parts of Greece. Migration or mobility towards communities in central and southern Greece likely appeared at a fairly consistent rate throughout the Bronze Age as no more than 5% − 10% non-locals could be identified throughout different stages of the Bronze Age. The non-locals included individuals of both genders, revealing no clear gender biases on mobility, while the approximate age of the identified non-locals indicates that individuals had most likely moved as young adults. It is therefore likely that mobility involved individuals rather than the resettlement of entire families. By linking individual Sr isotope data from multiple archaeological sites, this study reveals complex mobility patterns characterized by multidirectional movement driven by diverse cultural and economic factors.
SN - 1932-6203
ER -