PLOS ONE RESEARCH ARTICLE Individual geographic mobility in a Viking-Age emporiumÐBurial practices and strontium isotope analyses of Ribe's earliest inhabitants 1☯ 2☯ 1☯ 3☯ Sarah CroixID *, Karin Margarita Frei , Søren Michael Sindbñk , Morten SøvsøID 1 Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet), School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Højbjerg, Denmark, 2 National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark, 3 Museum of Southwest Jutland, Ribe, Denmark a1111111111 ☯ These authors contributed equally to this work. a1111111111 *
[email protected] a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 Abstract Individual geographic mobility is a key social dynamic of early Viking-Age urbanization in Scandinavia. We present the first comprehensive geographic mobility study of Scandina- OPEN ACCESS via's earliest emporium, Ribe, which emerged around AD 700 in the North Sea region of Citation: Croix S, Frei KM, Sindbñk SM, Søvsø M Denmark. This article presents the results of strontium isotope analyses of 21 individuals (2020) Individual geographic mobility in a Viking- buried at Ribe, combined with an in-depth study of the varied cultural affinities reflected by Age emporiumÐBurial practices and strontium the burial practices. In order to investigate geographic mobility in early life/childhood, we isotope analyses of Ribe's earliest inhabitants. sampled multiple teeth and/or petrous bone of individuals, which yielded a total of 43 stron- PLoS ONE 15(8): e0237850. https://doi.org/ 10.1371/journal.pone.0237850 tium isotope analyses. Most individuals yielded strontium isotope values that fell within a rel- atively narrow range, between 87Sr/86Sr = 0.709 to 0.711. Only two individuals yielded Editor: Peter F. Biehl, University at Buffalo - The 87 86 State University of New York, UNITED STATES values > Sr/ Sr = 0.711.