Buried in water, burdened by nature – Resilience carried the Iron Age people through Fimbulvinter

Oinonen, Markku; Alenius, Teija; Arppe, Laura; Bocherens, Hervé; Etu-Sihvola, Heli; Helama, Samuli; Huhtamaa, Heli; Lahtinen, Maria; Mannermaa, Kristiina; Onkamo, Päivi; Palo, Jukka; Sajantila, Antti; Salo, Kati; Sundell, Tarja; Vanhanen, Santeri; Wessman, Anna (2020). Buried in water, burdened by nature – Resilience carried the Iron Age people through Fimbulvinter. PLoS ONE, 15(4), pp. 1-27. Public Library of Science 10.1371/journal.pone.0231787

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Levänluhta is a unique archaeological site with the remains of nearly a hundred Iron Age individuals found from a water burial in Ostrobothnia, Finland. The strongest climatic downturn of the Common Era, resembling the great Fimbulvinter in Norse mythology, hit these people during the 6th century AD. This study establishes chronological, dietary, and livelihood synthesis on this population based on stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic and radiocarbon analyses on human remains, supported by multidisciplinary evidence. Extraordinarily broad stable isotopic distribution is observed, indicating three subgroups with distinct dietary habits spanning four centuries. This emphasizes the versatile livelihoods practiced at this boundary of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems. While the impact of the prolonged cold darkness of the 6th century was devastating for European communities relying on cultivation, the broad range of livelihoods provided resilience for the Levänluhta people to overcome the abrupt climatic decline.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of History and Archaeology > Institute of History > Economic, Social and Environmental History
06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of History and Archaeology > Institute of History
10 Strategic Research Centers > Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR)

UniBE Contributor:

Huhtamaa, Heli

Subjects:

500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology
900 History

ISSN:

1932-6203

Publisher:

Public Library of Science

Language:

English

Submitter:

Heli Huhtamaa

Date Deposited:

23 Mar 2022 14:15

Last Modified:

09 Apr 2023 19:10

Publisher DOI:

10.1371/journal.pone.0231787

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/154863

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/154863

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