Unravelling biocultural population structure in 4th/3rd century BC Monterenzio Vecchio (Bologna, Italy) through a comparative analysis of strontium isotopes, non-metric dental evidence, and funerary practices

The 4th century BC marks the main entrance of Celtic populations in northern Italy. Their arrival has been suggested based on the presence of Celtic customs in Etruscan mortuary contexts, yet up to now few bioarchaeological data have been examined to support or reject the arrival of these newcomers. Here we use strontium isotopes, non-metric dental traits and funerary patterns to unravel the biocultural structure of the necropolis of Monterenzio Vecchio (Bologna, Italy). Subsamples of our total sample of 38 individuals were analyzed based on different criteria characterizing the following analyses: 1) strontium isotope analysis to investigate migratory patterns and provenance; 2) non-metric dental traits to establish biological relationships between Monterenzio Vecchio, 13 Italian Iron age necropolises and three continental and non-continental Celtic necropolises; 3) grave goods which were statistically explored to detect possible patterns of cultural variability. The strontium isotopes results indicate the presence of local and non-local individuals, with some revealing patterns of mobility. The dental morphology reveals an affinity between Monterenzio Vecchio and Iron Age Italian samples. However, when the Monterenzio Vecchio sample is separated by isotopic results into locals and non-locals, the latter share affinity with the sample of non-continental Celts from Yorkshire (UK). Moreover, systematic analyses demonstrate that ethnic background does not retain measurable impact on the distribution of funerary elements. Our results confirm the migration of Celtic populations in Monterenzio as archaeologically hypothesized on the basis of the grave goods, followed by a high degree of cultural admixture between exogenous and endogenous traits. This contribution shows that combining different methods offers a more comprehensive perspective for the exploration of biocultural processes in past and present populations.

公元前4世纪为凯尔特人族群迁入意大利北部的关键时期。此前学界已依据伊特鲁里亚（Etruscan）丧葬遗存中出现的凯尔特文化特征，推测凯尔特人曾抵达此地，但迄今为止鲜有生物考古学（bioarchaeology）数据可用于佐证或驳斥这一外来族群的到来。本研究利用锶同位素（strontium isotopes）、非度量性牙科特征（non-metric dental traits）以及丧葬模式，解析意大利博洛尼亚市蒙特伦齐奥·韦基奥（Monterenzio Vecchio）古代墓地（necropolis）的生物文化结构。本次研究总样本共38例个体，依据不同分析标准对亚样本开展分析：1）锶同位素分析，以探究迁徙模式与起源地；2）非度量性牙科特征分析，以确立蒙特伦齐奥·韦基奥墓地与13座意大利铁器时代墓地、3座大陆及非大陆凯尔特墓地之间的生物学亲缘关系；3）随葬器物分析，通过统计学方法探究文化变异的潜在模式。锶同位素分析结果显示，样本中存在本地与非本地个体，部分个体呈现出迁徙特征。牙科形态学分析表明，蒙特伦齐奥·韦基奥墓地与意大利铁器时代样本具有亲缘关系。然而，当根据同位素分析结果将蒙特伦齐奥·韦基奥样本划分为本地个体与非本地个体后，后者与来自英国约克郡（Yorkshire）的非大陆凯尔特样本具有亲缘关系。此外，系统性分析表明，族群背景对随葬器物的分布并无可检测到的显著影响。本研究结果印证了学界基于随葬器物所提出的凯尔特人曾迁徙至蒙特伦齐奥地区的考古学假说，且外来文化与本土文化之间存在高度的文化融合。本研究表明，结合多种分析方法可为探究古今人群的生物文化过程提供更全面的视角。