Cemeteries are more than just places where we bury our dead. They can reveal important details about a location, like the lifestyle, diet, and subsistence strategies of societies.
A new multidisciplinary study, published in Scientific Reports, uses a Hungarian cemetery in Tiszafüred-Majoroshalom to identify a turning point in the Bronze Age history of Central Europe. By analyzing cemetery remains, researchers discovered that dietary changes occurring between the Middle and Late Bronze Ages disprove previously believed theories about early European cultures.
Read More: Bronze Age Bones Indicate Violent Death and Possible Cannibalism
Discovering Dietary Changes During the Bronze Ages
Around 1500 B.C.E., the Middle Bronze Age began to transition into the Late Bronze Age. This transition brought significant changes in the societies of Central Europe, especially for the Tumulus culture — the most dominant material culture during this period.
A leading scientific belief about the Tumulus culture in Hungary was that this was a primarily pastoral group who raised livestock for food and other resources. One of the main questions addressed in this study was whether this belief was indeed true. Through nitrogen and carbon isotope analyses, the international research team found a surprising answer.
A significant change in diet was observed between the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. During the Middle Bronze Age, the diet of those buried in the cemetery was much more varied and indicated consistent and easy access to animal-based proteins. However, in the Late Bronze Age, people’s diet became less diverse, and the presence of animal protein decreased.
Another key finding was the introduction of broomcorn millet to people’s diet at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. Millet is a quick-growing plant that provides high energy to those who consume it, and likely would’ve been a good energy substitute to make up for the loss of animal proteins. This is also now the earliest documented evidence of millet consumption in Europe.
Answering Questions About Tumulus Culture
The introduction of millet as a dietary staple and the decrease in the presence of animal proteins directly challenge the common belief that the Tumulus culture was consistently pastoral and engaged in animal husbandry all throughout their existence. Thanks to micronutrients found in excavated teeth, researchers can confidently say that the consumption of animals declined between the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, likely indicating that livestock was not readily available.
Animal protein was not the only decrease the research team observed from their findings. They also observed a decrease in mobility and migration of those living in the area of the cemetery between the Middle and Late Bronze Ages.
Radiocarbon dating has revealed that immigrant populations were present in Tiszafüred as early as 1500 B.C.E. During the Middle Bronze Age, immigrants were present in the cemetery and likely came to the area from nearby. However, during the Late Bronze Age, fewer immigrants were identified, but those identified came from farther away. These changes in migration help to prove another common theory — that Western populations arrived in the Great Hungarian Plains during the same time as the rise of the Tumulus culture.
This study is a great example of the success of interdisciplinary approaches to research, as it involved traditional archaeology, bioarchaeology, and anthropology. The team hopes to see more interdisciplinary studies in the future, especially for those interested in revealing the intricacies of topics like ancient lifestyles, burial customs, and settlements.
Read More: Dozens of Human Skeletons Reveal a Historical Roman Massacre May Not Have Happened
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
Scientific Reports. Isotope and archaeobotanical analysis reveal radical changes in mobility, diet and inequalities around 1500 BCE at the core of Europe
As the marketing coordinator at Discover Magazine, Stephanie Edwards interacts with readers across Discover's social media channels and writes digital content. Offline, she is a contract lecturer in English & Cultural Studies at Lakehead University, teaching courses on everything from professional communication to Taylor Swift, and received her graduate degrees in the same department from McMaster University. You can find more of her science writing in Lab Manager and her short fiction in anthologies and literary magazine across the horror genre.
