Staying within the boundaries: Substantial local mobility in mid-3 rd millennium Southern Scandinavia revealed by laser ablation Sr isotope analysis

Abstract As far as culture groups go, the Corded Ware Culture (CWC, c. 2900 − 2200 BCE) is understood as the epitome of migration, pastoralism and long-range movement. This article reports on a different and prevailing mode of mobility observed in the Battle Axe Culture (BAC), a conspicuous late CWC variant residing in southern Sweden. Based on teeth from 70 skeletons, the reported result describes the mobility level from c. 2600 BCE (when the BAC first appeared) until c. 2200 BCE (when the BAC transformed into a Late Neolithic (LN) culture). The skeletal data derives from burials in flat grave cemeteries (Sweden) as well as megalithic passage graves (from Denmark and Sweden). The hitherto predominant ‘bulk strontium Isotope method’ is capable of distinguishing between absent movement (locals) and substantial movement (non-locals). Here, we rely on spatially-resolved, geographically and culturally linked tooth data generated by the laser-ablation-Sr-isotope method, which endorses detailed insight into individuals’ movements over several years in childhood and adolescence. This biographical result demonstrates that most people regularly travelled short distances throughout their lifetimes while also staying within the neighbourhood of their place of burial and/or birth. Long and middle range movements were the exception. The present study yields new essential information regarding a significant difference found in the strontium isotope values between BAC and LN in the principal area of SW Scania. It unfolds a gradual development from a local-scale territorially defined pastoralism in the BAC towards a predominantly sedentary agricultural economy in the LN.