Isotope analysis reveals mobility of the earliest cattle herds in northern Europe
4 affiliations
- 1Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 2, Leiden, 2333 CC the Netherlands
- 2Faculty of Science, Department of Earth Sciences, Geology & Geochemistry cluster, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, de Boelelaan 1100, Amsterdam, 1081 HZ the Netherlands
- 3Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Department of Art and Culture, History, and Antiquity, Antiquity cluster, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, de Boelelaan 1105, Amsterdam, 1081 HV the Netherlands
- 4Groningen Institute of Archaeology, University of Groningen, Postbus 716, Groningen, 9700 AS the Netherlands
Abstract
Human mobility was intrinsic to the farming communities of the Linear Pottery culture (c. 5500 − 4900 BCE). Much less is known about the mobility patterns of the earliest farmers north of the Linear Pottery zone, particularly in the Netherlands. Here, people of the Early Neolithic Swifterbant culture combined farming, hunting and gathering from c. 4240 BCE. While human remains for mobility studies are scarce, livestock offer a promising yet underexplored proxy. This research applies inter- and intra-tooth strontium (87Sr/86Sr), oxygen (δ18O), and carbon (δ13C) isotope analysis to cattle, suids, and sheep from the Swifterbant sites S3 and S4. Previous isotope research identified two distinct livestock dietary regimes: animals grazing in floodplain environments and animals grazing in forested settings. The results presented here reveal substantial variability in livestock mobility, including several non-local animals that moved multiple times during their lifetime. Notably, animals associated with the forest-grazing dietary regime display non-local strontium isotope values, whereas individuals linked to floodplain-grazing are predominantly local. These findings provide the first evidence of livestock mobility in northern Europe during the fifth millennium BCE and suggest that the movement of animals was part of broader interaction networks among early farming communities. The study further demonstrates that, in addition to intra-individual isotope variation, intra-population variability in livestock can reveal patterns of mobility and animal management.
Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-66057-4.
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BibTeX
@article{brusgaard2026isotope,
title = {{Isotope analysis reveals mobility of the earliest cattle herds in northern Europe}},
author = {Nathalie Ø. Brusgaard and Lisette M. Kootker and Daan C. M. Raemaekers},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1038/s41598-026-66057-4},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-66057-4},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Isotope analysis reveals mobility of the earliest cattle herds in northern Europe
AU - Nathalie Ø. Brusgaard
AU - Lisette M. Kootker
AU - Daan C. M. Raemaekers
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/06
JO - Scientific Reports
DO - 10.1038/s41598-026-66057-4
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-66057-4
AB - Human mobility was intrinsic to the farming communities of the Linear Pottery culture (c. 5500 − 4900 BCE). Much less is known about the mobility patterns of the earliest farmers north of the Linear Pottery zone, particularly in the Netherlands. Here, people of the Early Neolithic Swifterbant culture combined farming, hunting and gathering from c. 4240 BCE. While human remains for mobility studies are scarce, livestock offer a promising yet underexplored proxy. This research applies inter- and intra-tooth strontium (87Sr/86Sr), oxygen (δ18O), and carbon (δ13C) isotope analysis to cattle, suids, and sheep from the Swifterbant sites S3 and S4. Previous isotope research identified two distinct livestock dietary regimes: animals grazing in floodplain environments and animals grazing in forested settings. The results presented here reveal substantial variability in livestock mobility, including several non-local animals that moved multiple times during their lifetime. Notably, animals associated with the forest-grazing dietary regime display non-local strontium isotope values, whereas individuals linked to floodplain-grazing are predominantly local. These findings provide the first evidence of livestock mobility in northern Europe during the fifth millennium BCE and suggest that the movement of animals was part of broader interaction networks among early farming communities. The study further demonstrates that, in addition to intra-individual isotope variation, intra-population variability in livestock can reveal patterns of mobility and animal management. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-66057-4.
SN - 2045-2322
ER -