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111
VII/1/2016
INTERDISCIPLINARIA ARCHAEOLOGICA
NATURAL SCIENCES IN ARCHAEOLOGY
homepage: http://www.iansa.eu
The Early-Merovingian Cemetery in München-Perlach (Bavaria) – Analysing
Skeletal Morphology, Health and Disease and Strontium Isotope Ratios
Kristin von Heyking
a
,
Stephanie Zintl
b,c*
a
AnthroArch GbR, Josef-Danzer-Str. 35, 82152 Planegg, Germany
b
Institute of Archaeological Sciences, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg i. Br., Germany
c
Bavarian State Department for Preservation of Historical Monuments, Ofce Thierhaupten, Klosterberg 8, 86672 Thierhaupten, Germany
1. Introduction
Due to the almost complete absence of written sources only
a few (and often scattered) pieces of information exist as to
population development and the composition of society in
early medieval Bavaria around 500 AD. Our knowledge is
almost exclusively based on archaeological fnds, most notably
burials furnished with grave goods that are characteristic
for this period and so far have attracted most attention.
The present study attempts to complement archaeological
fndings on a small cemetery from early Merovingian times
in München-Perlach with the results of morphological and
(molecular) archaeometric analyses of the skeletons to get
a better understanding of the living conditions and potential
mobility of the individuals buried there.
In 1999, excavations of Roman structures dating from the
1
st
to the middle of the 4
th
century (Volpert 2004/05) in the
village of Perlach, nowadays a suburb in the south of Munich,
also yielded a small cemetery dating to early Merovingian
times (Zintl 2004/05). In total, 32 burials were excavated.
Two more graves might have been destroyed by modern
construction work (graves no. 33 and 34,
cf.
Figure 1), and the
burial place was not excavated completely, but two burials of
small children (graves no. 31 and 32) found in 2000 indicate
its eastern border. Thus, it can be assumed that probably at
least two thirds of the cemetery have been excavated.
The cemetery lies close to a small river, the Hachinger Bach
which runs south to north and also marks the approximate
course of a trafc route in this region: Archaeological sites
from Roman and Early Medieval times line up along this
route (
cf.
Winghart 1995), including the richly-furnished
early Merovingian graves from Unterhaching that were found
only about 5 km south of the Perlach cemetery in 2004 (Fehr,
Later, Volpert 2005; Wamser 2010; Haas-Gebhard 2013). The
settlement to which the cemetery in Perlach belonged has not
yet been found. The relation of the early Merovingian graves
to a larger cemetery approximately 150 m further west, where
Volume VII ● Issue 1/2016 ● Pages 111–121
*Corresponding author. E-mail: Stephanie.Zintl@blfd.bayern.de
ARTICLE INFO
Article history:
Received: 11
th
December 2015
Accepted: 2
nd
September 2016
Key words:
Early Middle Ages
cemetery
Bavaria
living conditions
personal mobility
stress marker
cribra orbitalia
enamel hypoplasia
strontium isotopes analysis
ABSTRACT
The present study focuses on the living conditions and mobility of individuals buried in München-
Perlach at around 500 AD, using archaeological, morphological and archaeometric methods. The
sex, age at death, and body height of each individual were ascertained with the aid of morphological
examination techniques. The skeletal series is characterised by a balanced sex distribution and a
surprisingly high life expectancy for Merovingian times. Compared to the contemporary, (possibly)
high status collectives Unterhaching and Burgweinting the morphological stress markers
cribra
orbitalia
and enamel hypoplasia suggest slightly less favourable living conditions for the München-
Perlach individuals. However, it has to be stressed that further research and more comparative studies
are needed to interpret these results.
The isotopic analyses of strontium ratios of the tooth enamel of 29 individuals from the München-
Perlach cemetery suggest that at least four individuals did not grow up in the region. The strontium
signatures of these four people indicate that they consumed food from a granite or volcanic geologic
substrate in their childhood, which identifes them as foreign to the region where they were buried.
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Health and Disease and Strontium Isotope Ratios
112
0 25 m
Figure 1.
Plan of the cemetery in München-Perlach, Schmidbauerstraße; excavations in 1999 and 2000.
an unknown number of graves dating to the 7
th
century AD
were destroyed in 1968, remains unclear.
All 32 burials in Perlach are single inhumation burials: the
skeletons supine with their heads to the west of the grave.
The grave pits are comparatively deep for Early Medieval
graves in the Munich gravel plain, with most depths ranging
between about 1 m and 1.3 m under the excavation’s ground
level (measured after the top soil was removed); something
that seems to be typical of graves from earliest Merovingian
times in the region (H.-P. Volpert, pers. comm.). The graves are
quite narrow, with widths between about 0.4 and 0.7 m at the
level of the skeleton. In a few cases the remains or stains of
wood indicate narrow wooden cofns or, in at least one case
(grave no. 7), burial in a tree-trunk cofn. In other graves the
positions of the skeletons’ upper extremities being very close
to the body also suggest burial in tree-trunk cofns. This fts
well with the cemetery’s date, since tree-trunk cofns are a
common characteristic of early Merovingian graves in southern
Germany (Zintl 2004/05: 342). In grave no. 28 a pottery vessel
was deposited in a sort of niche at the narrow end of the grave
pit, west of the child’s head. Except for a small vessel in another
child’s grave (grave no. 1), this is the only evidence of the
deposition of vessels or food in the whole cemetery.
The dead were buried in their clothes, but – as is typical
of early Merovingian times – male graves were furnished
very sparsely: most male burials only contained a knife
and/or a simple belt buckle. The man in grave no. 13 was
the only one who was buried with a weapon, namely a
very small seax (a single-edged bladed sword typical for
Merovingian times), and some tools in a small bag. Seven
of the women and a child were buried with brooches, but
notably none of them wore a full set of four brooches and
all bow brooches occur as single pieces only (all graves
in the cemetery are undisturbed). Other dress accessories
and jewellery include glass and amber beads, that were
worn around the neck, around the waist or hanging from
the belt, and knives, metal rings and other small things,
also worn hanging from the belt. The woman in grave
no. 4 was buried with a set of three iron keys and an iron
sieve spoon – such spoons are usually made of silver and
thought to have been used for serving spiced wine (Knaut
1993, 103; Martin 1984; Zintl 2004/05, 300). Both the
small fnds and the burial customs allow dating the graves
to the later part of the 5
th
and the early 6
th
centuries AD;
the cemetery was used for burial for approximately 50 or
60 years.
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113
2. Anthropological methods
2.1 Morphology (age and sex diagnosis, estimation
of body height)
Methods of morphological age-of-death and sex determination
and body height calculation, as well as the respective results
and discussion, can be taken from the contribution by Harbeck
et al.
(2016). Methods of sex determination for children, as
well as the respective results for the burial sites Burgweinting
Nord-West II and Burgweinting Kirchfeld-West can be
taken from Schleuder and Codreanu-Windauer (2013). For
analysing paleodemographic parameters the collective under
study was frst tested as to its representativeness according to
the formulae of Bocquet and Masset (1977), after which life
tables were calculated (
cf.
Acsádi, Nemeskéri 1970).
2.2 Unspecifc stress markers
The term “unspecifc stress markers” is used for pathological
changes in bones or teeth which cannot be attributed to a
certain defned disease (Lewis, Roberts 1997). In the present
study
cribra orbitalia
as well as enamel hypoplasias were
evaluated.
Cribra orbitalia
are defned as porous or sieve-like
foramina of the so-called
lamina externa
in the region of the
orbital roof. In this study they were classifed into two stages
according to the size of the covered area in the orbit (Steckel
et al.
2005;
cf.
Table 1); at least one orbit had to be present
and observable.
Enamel hypoplasias are defects concerning the thickness
of the dental enamel layer manifesting themselves as linear,
pit-like or more or less extended enamel mineralization
disorders (Goodman, Rose 1990; Hillson, Bond 1997). They
result from stress phases afecting an individual during the
period of enamel formation (amelogenesis) in their infancy
or childhood: the formation of enamel by ameloblasts is
disturbed resulting in structural disorders in the form of
hypoplastic defects (Goodman, Rose 1990). Once developed,
the dental enamel is not remodelled during the further life of
an individual, thus being an irreversible indicator of stress
during infancy or early childhood.
Transversal enamel hypoplasias are classifed into three
stages depending on the degree of their expression (Global
History of Health Project 2005, after Schultz 1988) (
cf.
Table 2).
The age of formation of an enamel hypoplastic defect
was determined by comparison with the dental development
scheme of Massler
et al.
(1965).
3. Results and discussion
3.1 Sex ratio and distribution of age-of-death
The results for each individual regarding age-of-death, sex,
body height,
cribra orbitalia
, enamel hypoplasia and the
strontium isotope measurements are listed in Table 6.
Of the 32 individuals examined 90.6% (n=29) can be
sexed: 31.2% (n=10) are determined as female, 9.4% (n=3)
as likely female, 25% (n=8) as male and a further 25% (n=8)
as likely male. Thus 9.4% (n=3) of the Perlach individuals
are of indeterminate morphological sex. Combining the
respective categories “female” and “likely female” as well as
“male” and “likely male” results in 40.6% female individuals
versus 50% male individuals.
A morphological age-of-death diagnosis was possible for
all of the 32 individuals (Table 3).
Figure 2 shows the sex distribution within the diferent
age classes of the total collective (for details see: Haebler
et al.
2006, Table 1).
Of the 32 individuals buried in the Perlach cemetery 25%
(n=8) are children (age classes Infans1 and Infans2). Other
Early Medieval necropoles show lower percentages of child
burials, for example: Unterhaching, only 10% (Harbeck
et al.
2013); Burgweinting Kirchfeld-West 15.8%; Burgweinting
Nord-West II 13.4% (Harbeck
et al.
2016); and Altenerding
16.6% (Zink 1999). The mortality of children (refected in
their proportion of the cemetery collective) is regarded as
an indicator of the living conditions (
cf.
, for example, Grupe
et al.
2005). However, since the proportion of child burials
in Early Medieval cemeteries is in most cases quite small,
it is usually assumed that either not all of the individuals
Table 1.
Standard for scoring
cribra orbitalia.
StageDegree of expression
0No orbits present for observation
1Absent with at least one observable orbit
2
A cluster of mostly fne foramina covering a small area (≤1 cm
2
)
3Substantial area (>1 cm
2
) covered by small and/ or larger foramina with a tendency to cluster together
Table 2.
Standard for scoring enamel hypoplasias.
StageDegree of expression
0Tooth not present or unobservable
1No linear enamel hypoplasia
2One hypoplastic line present
3Two or more hypoplastic lines present
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114
who died already as an infant or child were buried in the
regular cemeteries, or that the graves of children are under-
represented due to other circumstances, as, for example, the
poor preservation prospects of bones (summarised in Lohrke
2004, 38–40; Herrmann
et al.
1990). The comparably high
proportion of individuals who died early in the München-
Perlach collective might refect the real mortality of infants
and children somewhat better (for details, see below).
Among the buried individuals of juvenile age or higher
age classes a balanced sex ratio is observed in the Perlach
population, even though the cemetery was not excavated
completely: 12 male individuals versus 11 female individuals
– as opposed to the contemporary necropoles of Unterhaching
and Burgweinting which are characterized by a signifcant
female surplus (
cf.
Harbeck
et al.
2013; Harbeck
et al.
2016).
Most individuals in Perlach had died in the adult age class
(34.4%), followed by those of the mature age class (28.1%).
A similarly balanced ratio can be observed in Burgweinting
Nord-West II (see Harbeck
et al.
2016). In contrast to this,
more individuals had died in the mature than in the adult age
class in Burgweinting Kirchfeld-West and in Unterhaching
(Harbeck
et al.
2013). A shift to mature age-of-death,
showing longer life spans of individuals, indicates better
living conditions. Yet, one should keep in mind that the
small sample size can only show tendencies – for more far-
reaching comparative interpretations more populations with
more individuals would be necessary.
The senile age-class comprised female individuals only;
accordingly, more male individuals had died in the adult and
mature age class in the München-Perlach collective.
3.2 Paleodemography
To obtain further information for the reconstruction of
demographic processes, life expectancy and mortality rate
were calculated for the collective of München-Perlach. For
all of the following calculations and discussion thereof, the
small sample size of only 32 individuals and also the fact that
the cemetery was not excavated completely should be kept
in mind. Thus, all of the following only indicates tendencies.
Statistical tests were not applied due to the small sample size.
A methodically correct analysis of paleodemographic
structures frst requires validating the collective under study
with regard to its representativeness.
For that purpose two quotients had to be calculated: the
ratio of the 5- to 9-year-old individuals to the 10- to 14-year-
old individuals (expected value: ≥2), as well as the ratio of
the 5- to 14-year-old individuals to the grown-ups ≥20 years
(expected value: ≥0.1) (after Bocquet, Masset 1977). The
frst-mentioned ratio comes to 13.3 in the collective under
study, thus meeting the expectations. The ratio of the number
of 5- to 14-year-old individuals to the number of adult/
mature/senile individuals is 0.175 in München-Perlach,
again corresponding to the expected value of ≥0.1. Despite
the cemetery’s incomplete excavation, the Munich-Perlach
collective seems to be representative.
In the following, life expectancies and mortality rates will
be compared. A fundamental requirement is the presence of
valid individual data as to age-of-death and sex (Grupe
et al.
2005).
In Figure 3 the sex-specifc life expectancy of the
individuals of München-Perlach is shown (values calculated
by means of a life table).
Average life expectancy at birth is 28.9 years for male
individuals and 36.4 years (a conspicuously high value) for
female individuals. However, a defcit of infants being buried
(
cf.
above) can lead to an “artifcially increased” average life
expectancy at birth and at the same time to an unrealistically
low mortality (rate) in the age class of infants (Grupe
et al.
2005) (see Figures 3 and 4). The mentioned “infant defcit”
is often observed in historical graveyard collectives (
cf.
Strott 2006; Zink 1999) and may be postulated for München-
Perlach, too, as female infants seem to be missing completely
in this collective. Therefore the real female life expectancy
at birth was probably lower than that shown in the diagram.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Infans1Infans2juvenileadultmaturesenile
age class
percent
nd
female
male
Figure 2.
Distribution of morphological age
and sex.
Table 3.
Age distribution in München-Perlach.
Age classAbsolute number (n)Percentage
Infans1 (0–6 years) 618.80%
Infans 2 (7–12 years) 2
6.20%
juvenile (13–20 years) 1
3.10%
adult (21–40 years)11
34.40%
mature (41–60 years)
9
28.10%
senile (60+ years)
3
9.40%
total32
100%
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115
The phenomenon of higher life expectancies for female
individuals is seen in all age classes. A maximum diference
of slightly more than 10 years can be noticed for the age
span of 25 to 29 years. Beyond the age of 45 years a gradual
adjustment can be observed.
According to Langenscheidt (1985) a life expectancy
at birth of more than 26 years – here true for both sexes –
indicates generally good living conditions.
Figure 4 shows the life expectancy values of the population
of München-Perlach compared to the two collectives of
Burgweinting (male and female individuals are combined in
this diagram).
Life expectancy is considerably higher for the individuals
from both Burgweinting necropoles, the diference being
at least around 2 to 3 years on average. In a comparative
study of diferent Early-Medieval graveyard populations,
Langenscheidt (1985) found that average life expectancy
at birth in those times was 22 to 29 years. Yet in the case
of the München-Perlach individuals it is even a little higher
at 31 years. Factors infuencing life expectancy are, for
example: hygienic conditions, food supply and diseases
(children’s diseases, infectious diseases,
etc.
). A higher
life expectancy can therefore be seen as an indication of a
generally better supply situation. Conditions seem to have
been slightly above average in München-Perlach, and yet
still considerably poorer than in Burgweinting. However,
this conclusion should be taken with caution, as it is probable
that the high life expectancy at birth in Perlach, and even
more so in both Burgweinting necropoles, might be partly
due to a defcit of infants’ and children’s burials in these
cemeteries (
cf.
above).
In Figure 5 the mortality rate of the München-Perlach
collective is shown (male and female individuals separated).
The lowest mortality rate is found for individuals aged
10–14 years (with the exception of female individuals at birth;
for possible reasons, see above), and thus in the age group
with the “naturally” lowest risk of death within a population
(Grupe
et al.
2005). Another conspicuous aspect is the
high female mortality in the early adult age of 20–24 years
which can be explained by the potential risks coming with
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
0–4
5–9
10–14
15–19
20–24
25–29
30–34
35–39
40–44
45–49
50–54
55–59
60–x
age class
life expectancy (years)
male
female
31
21
37
23
41
28
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
0–4
5–9
10–14
15–19
20–24
25–29
30–34
35–39
40–44
45–49
50–54
55–59
60–x
70–80
age class
life expectancies (years)
M-Perlach
BW-Kirchfeld-West
BW-NWII
Figure 3.
Life expectancy (years) for
males and females of the München-Perlach
collective.
Figure 4.
Comparison of life expectancies
;
in the case of the Burgweinting collectives
the authors used a diferent set of age
classes (class size > 5 yrs), which explains
the isolated dots in the diagram. Values for
Burgweinting taken from Harbeck
et al.
(2016).
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Health and Disease and Strontium Isotope Ratios
116
pregnancy and childbirth (situations not unlikely at this age)
(Wahl 1992). Once having survived this critical age, female
individuals may have been more robust when facing diseases
(
cf.
below) than male individuals whose mortality constantly
increases after juvenile age. A reason for the latter may be
seen in the male individuals bearing (and using) arms on
reaching juvenile age (Kokkotidis 1999).
Yet, in the population of München-Perlach only a few
traumatic bone lesions could be observed; however, these
were exclusively in male individuals: a fracture of the left
clavicle (age: 30–50 years; burial no. 22), a skull trauma
caused by blunt force and a radius fracture both in one
individual (age: 30–50 years; burial no. 23), and a fracture
of a right metacarpal bone (age: 40–60 years; burial no. 27).
All traumatic lesions had healed: in none of the Perlach
individuals a fatal and/or unhealed trauma could be observed.
A medical study on sex-specifc mortality showed that
today men have a higher mortality than women. It is especially
noteworthy that men are more sensitive to parasites and
infectious diseases, which, moreover, are more often fatal in
men than in women (Owens 2008). Such explanations valid
for modern human populations may also be true for Early
Medieval people.
4. Stress markers
4.1 Stress markers: methodological background
The term “stress” means physical or mental pressure on an
individual. The interaction of man with his environment
is of essential importance in this context. Any change in
environmental conditions, as, for example, the evolution of
new diseases or altered climatic conditions, requires some
form of human adaptation, which is often connected to a
higher stress level.
Traditional interpretations of pathological change
are based on the following hypothesis: in general,
people who are living under difcult conditions, being
ill or undernourished show more strongly-expressed
pathological lesions than the more privileged healthy parts
of a population. This has been confrmed by comparative
studies on cemetery collectives representing diferent
social strata (
cf.
Bennike
et al.
2005; Ribot, Roberts 1996;
Timmermann 2009).
Skeletal manifestations of stress are, for instance, enamel
hypoplasias and
cribra orbitalia
; these symptoms thus make
stress “measurable”. The incidence of certain stress markers
and their relationship can provide information about the
morbidity of a population (Ribot, Roberts 1996).
Cribra orbitalia
can result from diferent (pathological)
conditions: on the one hand, the anaemic conditions
connected with hypertrophy of the erythropoietic bone
marrow are held responsible for the porous reorganization
of the orbit roof (
e.g.
Aufderheid, Rodriguez-Martin 1998).
Frequently, acquired anaemias, resulting from iron defciency,
for instance, induce the forming of
cribra orbitalia
; the
causes are a reduced iron intake due to defcient nutrition
as well as to malabsorption, and/or chronic loss of blood in
the intestines because of infections or a parasitic infestation
(Schutkowski, Grupe 1997; Steinbock 1967). Walker
et al.
(2009), on the other hand, assume the cause to be a
megaloblastic anaemia induced by a defciency in folic acid
or vitamin B 12. Other possible causes of
cribra orbitalia
are
a lack of vitamin C (Grupe 1995; Sullivan 2005) or rickets
(Ribot, Roberts 1996). According to histological studies,
infammation can also lead to hypervascularity and, by that,
to the macroscopically-recognizable porosities of the orbits
(Wapler
et al.
2004).
Diferent causes are also given for the formation of
enamel hypoplasia. Besides congenital malformations and
traumata, metabolic stress is especially regarded as causative
(Goodman, Rose 1990). In this context, for example,
children’s diseases and malnutrition have to be mentioned
(Hillson, Bond 1997).
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
0–4
5–9
10–14
15–19
20–24
25–29
30–34
35–39
40–44
45–49
50–54
55–59
60–x
age class
mortality rate (‰)
male
female
Figure 5.
Mortality rate (‰) for males and
females of the München-Perlach collective.
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117
4.2 Stress markers: results
The observed frequencies of
cribra orbitalia
and enamel
hypoplasia are both listed in Table 6.
4.3 Stress markers: discussion
Table 4 demonstrates that the total frequency of
cribra
orbitalia
in the Perlach population is comparable to the
frequency in the Wenigumstadt collective, while considerably
exceeding the values of Burgweinting and Unterhaching (the
last-mentioned graveyard located at a distance of only 5 km
from the Perlach necropolis).
Since the majority of
cribra orbitalia
develops during
infancy or childhood, lesions observed in grown-up individuals
are explained by insufcient bone remodelling, which allows
the
cribra orbitalia
to persist up into adult age (Stuart-
Macadam 1985). In the present study, a high frequency of
subadult individuals showed
cribra orbitalia
. The observation
that predominantly children were afected by
cribra orbitalia
is underpinned in München-Perlach by the fact that active and
extensive lesions (stage 3) were found exclusively in the age
classes Infans 1 or Infans 2 (see Table 6).
Neither rickets nor scurvy (resulting from vitamin
C defciency) could be diagnosed in the Perlach collective;
both can therefore be excluded as possible causes in the
observed cases of
cribra orbitalia
. In three individuals,
periosteal changes – which can be induced by infammatory
processes – and
cribra orbitalia
were diagnosed together
(grave no. 11, 21, and 31, all individuals subadult), so a
combined cause for both lesions seems likely in these cases.
For the other individuals, an inadequate supply of, for
example, vitamin B 12, or a case of heavy parasite infestation
may have caused the
cribra orbitalia
.
When compared to other Early-Medieval burial sites (see
Table 5), München-Perlach shows the highest frequency of
enamel hypoplasia when considering the total population
(44%), whereas the hypoplasia incidence among the
subadults alone (16.7%) is found in the mid-range (because
of the small sample size the Wenigumstadt collective cannot
be regarded as representative here). In contrast to
cribra
orbitalia,
which may disappear in adults due to lifelong bone
remodelling, enamel hypoplasia, once developed, remains
for life. The total frequency, therefore, is a considerably
more signifcant aspect in a comparative interpretation of
(historical) living conditions.
Not only the frequency of enamel hypoplasia but also the
degree of its expression is of importance for an interpretation
of individuals’ living conditions. Two or more linear
hypoplasia formed in one tooth crown (stage 3) refect a
recurrent or chronic stress situation having afected the infant
or child. Almost half of the individuals concerned (45.5%,
5/11;
cf.
Table 6) in the München-Perlach collective show
stage 3 implying repeated phases of stress.
Table 4.
Frequencies of
cribra orbitalia
in subadults and grown-up individuals from diferent necropoles. Data for Unterhaching, Wenigumstadt, and
Burgweinting from Harbeck
et al.
(2016), for Altenerding-Klettham from Zink (1999).
Cribra orbitalia
Skeletal series
Dating/Historical periodTotalSubadultAdult (grown-ups)
München-Perlachlate 5
th
– early 6
th
century
46.40% (13/28)87.50% (7/8)30% (6/20)
Unterhachingaround 500 AD
22.20% (2/9)50% (1/2)14.30% (1/7)
Burgweinting-Kirchfeld-Westlate 5
th
– early 6
th
century
36.80% (7/19)57.10% (2/3.5)32.30% (5/15.5)
Burgweinting-NWII5
th
century
38.50% (5/13)100% (2/2)27.30% (3/11)
Altenerding-Klettham
5
th
– 7
th
century (only Infans1
and Infans 2 investigated)
47.20% (75/159)
Wenigumstadt
only individuals dated to the
5
th
century investigated
46% (5/11)100% (2/2)33.30% (3/9)
Table 5.
Frequencies of enamel hypoplasias in subadults and grown-up individuals from diferent necropoles. Data for Unterhaching, Wenigumstadt, and
Burgweinting from Harbeck
et al.
(2016), for Altenerding-Klettham from Zink (1999).
Enamel hypoplasias
Skeletal series
Dating/ Historical periodTotalSubadultAdult (grown-ups)
München-Perlachlate 5
th
– early 6
th
century
44% (11/25)16.70% (1/6)52.6% (10/19)
Unterhachingaround 500 AD
22.20% (2/9)0% (0/1)25% (2/8)
Burgweinting-Kirchfeld-Westlate 5
th
– early 6
th
century
31.60% (6/19)14% (0.5/3.5)35.50% (5.5/15.5)
Burgweinting-NWII5
th
century
28.60% (4/14)28.60% (4/14)
Altenerding-Klettham
5
th
– 7
th
century (only Infans1
and Infans 2 investigated)
43.75% (35/80)
Wenigumstadt
only individuals dated to the
5
th
century investigated
33.30% (3/9)100% (1/1)25% (2/8)
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118
In principle, the chronologically-structured sequence
of enamel formation allows to determine in which age a
hypoplastic line developed (Goodman, Rose 1990) (Figure 6).
In the München-Perlach collective no hypoplasia were detected
that had developed before the second year of life, which may
suggest that there were few problems with children’s diseases
and malnutrition before this age. This fnding is supported by the
fact that none of the preserved deciduous teeth (representing the
prenatal phase of development) displayed enamel hypoplasia.
In most cases the hypoplasia formed between the age of two and
fve years with a maximum in the 4
th
year of life.
A possible cause of the high stress level in this phase
of childhood can be seen in the weaning phase and the
loss of passive immunity involved; immunity that had
been previously given to the child through maternal
immunoglobulins (Stuart-Macadam 1985; Zink 1999). As
a result the children get infected more easily with typical
children’s diseases like measles, mumps or chicken-pox,
thus putting a great strain on the organism.
5. Strontium isotope analysis
Information as to methods, evaluation and the applied cut-of
values can be taken from the contribution by Harbeck
et al.
(2016) and Haebler
et al.
(2006).
Strontium isotope analyses were carried out on
27 individuals from München-Perlach. The results show
Table 6.
Total results of the München-Perlach collective.
BurialSexAge class
(years)
Body height
(Bach/Breit.)(cm)
Cribra
orbitalia
Enamel
hypoplasia
SrStand.
1prob. maleInfans1 (3–5)
88.3
20
0.708970.000138788
2nd
mature (40–60)165.1
00
3prob. femalejuvenile (13–20)
169.8
130.709020.000103433
4femaleadult (20–24)
163.8
130.709450.000197795
5maleadult (20–24)
175.8
110.709200.000023139
6
femaleadult-mature (30–50)
177.8
01
0.708670.000348799
7prob. maleadult (24–40)159.7110.70995
0.000551348
8
female
mature (40–60)161.1
11
0.708770.000280209
9prob. maleInfans1 (3–5)
85.8
310.70914
0.00001858
10prob. male
mature (40–60)169.1
110.70957
0.000282648
11male
Infans1 (4–6)
95.021
0.70884
0.00023354
12femaleadult (25–35)
166.8
12
0.706580.001827359
13maleadult (25–35)
171.6
21
0.708650.000363648
14maleadult (25–35)
169.9
11
0.709610.000311639
15male
mature (40–60)
172.512
0.708750.000296473
16
femaleadult (24–40)
168.0
12
0.708650.000365769
17femaleadult-mature (30–50)
166.7
230.70900
0.000119696
18
female
senile (60+)
159.520
0.708660.000355163
19prob. female
Infans2 (6–8)108.5
21
0.706990.001540981
20maleadult-mature (30–50)173.9220.70942
0.000176582
21ndInfans1 (1–3) 75.3210.709120.000033429
22maleadult-mature (30–50)
165.2
110.712470.002333257
23prob. maleadult-mature (30–50)
162.0
110.70903
0.000096362
24femaleadult (20–24)
158.0
22
0.70899
0.000125353
25prob. maleadult (24–40)
163.4
12
0.708720.000316272
26
prob. male
adult (20+)164.3
23
0.708890.000198185
27male
mature (40–60)176.7
030.713000.002710145
28
prob. female
Infans2 (6–9)110.8
310.709110.000041207
29female
senile (60+)
100.709440.000193552
30female
senile (60+)163.5
100.709200.000023139
31prob. maleInfans1 (0.5–2)30
32nd0–0.500
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Health and Disease and Strontium Isotope Ratios
119
that four of them (14.8%) did not consume food and drink
from the local (geological) region in their childhood – which
most likely indicates that they grew up somewhere else
(burial no. 12, 19, 22, 27;
cf.
Table 6). With two (probable)
female and two (probable) male individuals, their sex ratio
is balanced. Besides three adult or mature individuals (burial
no. 12, 22, 27), a 6- to 8-year-old child (burial no. 19) also
showed a non-local strontium signature (
cf.
Harbeck
et al.
2016). The identifed proportion of non-locals of 14.8% is
very low compared to other contemporary collectives. The
contribution by Harbeck
et al.
(2016) mentions proportions
of 30% up to 70% of non-local individuals in a sample of four
diferent necropoles. The low result of München-Perlach is
remarkable, especially when compared with Unterhaching,
a cemetery only 5 km further south, where 70% (the highest
proportion determined) of the buried individuals had not
spent their early years of life in the local region.
In two of the Perlach individuals (burial no. 22 and 27),
the
87
Sr/
86
Sr ratio is higher than the cut-of value of 0.7103
used here, indicating that they spent their childhood in a
region dominated by bedrock containing granite or gneiss.
The strontium isotope signatures of the individuals from
burial no. 12 and 19, on the other hand, show values below the
cut-of value of 0.708, thus suggesting bedrock dominated by
volcanic rocks (for details, see Haebler
et al.
2006; Harbeck
et al.
2016). An interesting fact is that strontium ratios below
0.708 were found neither in the neighbouring Unterhaching
necropolis nor in the Burgweinting collectives – all of the
individuals identifed as non-locals in these populations by
their strontium signatures showed values higher than the
upper threshold value of 0.7103.
The four Perlach individuals identifed as “non-locals”
represent only a minimum number of people who had not
spent their early years of life in the region. For instance,
personal mobility within the large and geologically rather
homogenous region between the Danube and the Alps
cannot be detected by means of the strontium isotope method
and the threshold values used here. Thus it is not possible to
conclude that all the other individuals had spent their whole
life in Perlach (further discussion in Harbeck
et al.
2016).
The four people with strontium isotope signatures
diferent from all the other individuals were not buried close
to each other but rather at opposite ends of the cemetery:
burial no. 22 is situated in the northwestern group of graves,
burial no. 27 in the east of the cemetery, burial no. 12 lies in
its southeastern part and burial no. 19 on the western border
of the main group of graves (
cf.
Figure 1). Two of them were
buried with brooches, namely the woman in grave no. 12
and the person in grave no. 27 who was identifed as male
via morphological analysis of the skeleton but nonetheless
was buried with an attire typical of females (for possible
reasons for a discrepancy between anthropological sex and
archaeological gender see Gärtner
et al.
2013). The graves
of the other two “non-locals” did not contain anything that
would indicate wealth or high status, as can be assumed for
the brooches and other jewellery. This refutes the (maybe
rather naïve) idea that people with similar
87
Sr/
86
Sr isotopic
ratios would be buried close to each other because of their
potentially similar life story. Furthermore, the hypothesis
that people of higher status (indicated by rich grave goods)
might be more likely to move to other regions within their
lifetime – as the results for the richly-furnished Unterhaching
graves seem to suggest – cannot be confrmed either.
6. Conclusion
Sex ratio and distribution of age-of-death of the individuals
of the München-Perlach collective can be described as
balanced and typical of the Early Middle Ages.
Yet, some anthropological data indicate none too
favourable living conditions, especially when compared with
those from the Burgweinting and Unterhaching necropoles,
namely the high mortality rate of children, the fact that more
individuals had died in the adult (instead of mature) age class
and the frequency of stress markers. The total frequency
of
cribra orbitalia
is comparable to that of the population
of Wenigumstadt, while considerably fewer individuals
from the Unterhaching and Burgweinting graveyards were
afected. The anthropological analysis demonstrates that
living conditions in München-Perlach measured on the basis
of unspecifc stress markers may have been less favourable
than in the contemporary collectives of Burgweinting and
Unterhaching. Still, it cannot be decided with certainty
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
1.2.3.4.5.6.
Lebensjahr
percent
Figure 6.
Frequency of enamel hypoplasias
(related to the year of their development) in
the München-Perlach collective.
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Health and Disease and Strontium Isotope Ratios
120
whether really “bad” or only rather ordinary average living
conditions have to be assumed for Perlach, as it might well
be possible that the individuals buried in the “reference
necropoles” of Burgweinting and Unterhaching had lived
under extraordinarily good living conditions. For further
interpretation, additional representative cemetery collectives
would be needed.
Furthermore, the Perlach population difers from the
“reference necropoles” of Burgweinting and Unterhaching
in regard to the number of individuals identifed as “non-
locals” – a number which is considerably lower in Perlach.
Again, a broader basis of comparison would be desirable.
Acknowledgement
This study was conducted with fnancial aid by the
Gesellschaft für Archäologie in Bayern e.V. for laboratory
costs. We would also like to thank Mike Schweissing for the
mass spectrometry measurements of the Sr-isotopes and Anja
Staskiewicz for her helpful comments and for translating
large parts of the manuscript to English.
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