A collection of 4000-year-old skeletons has just left the University of Aberdeen’s Marischal Museum on a journey south to take part in a £530,000 project to help reveal the lifestyles of people who lived in the North-East during the early Bronze Age.
The 23 skeletons will be the first to be analysed in the project entitled, The Beaker isotope project: mobility, migration and diet in the British Early Bronze Age, taking place at the University of Sheffield.
Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the project will be led by Professor Mike Parker Pearson, of the University of Sheffield, who will use the latest analytical techniques to answer questions that have intrigued generations of antiquarians and archaeologists.
The University of Aberdeen’s collections of pottery found in prehistoric graves and their associated skeletons are among the most important in Britain.
Since the 19th century antiquarians and archaeologists have argued whether the appearance in Britain of burials with pots known as Beakers marked the arrival of continental migrants around 2400-2200 BC. These people have been variously credited with introducing metalworking to Britain, spreading the Indo-European language group and building Stonehenge.
In recent decades many prehistorians have argued that the changes in material culture were due to the introduction of a 'Beaker package' rather than a wave of immigration but isotope results from the skeleton of the Amesbury Archer, found near Stonehenge, indicate that he grew up in Europe.
Neil Curtis, Senior Curator, Marischal Museum, said, “Some of these skeletons have been in the University for over 100 years where they have been studied and curated by generations of anatomists, archaeologists and curators.
“It is very exciting to be the first museum to take part in this major research project that is using new scientific techniques to discover more about people who lived in the North-East thousands of years ago.”
This new research programme is being carried out jointly by Sheffield and Bradford Universities with the British Geological Survey and partner museums. The project is concentrating on four areas, of which the North-East is the first one to be studied by the project because of the size of the Marischal Museum collection and its quality of preservation and documentation.
Professor Mike Parker Pearson said, “I am delighted to start the project by working with the University of Aberdeen. The long tradition of research on the Beaker People in Aberdeen and the quality of the collection makes it the perfect one to start with.”
The project will include the analysis of strontium, oxygen, lead, sulphur, hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen isotopes in teeth to study the movement of people during their life as well as their diet.
Accompanying studies of the bones and wear patterns on teeth should also yield important results on prehistoric health and lifestyle. The skeletons will also be radiocarbon dated.