UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date:___________________ I, _________________________________________________________, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: in: It is entitled: This work and its defense approved by: Chair: _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ Isotopic Study of Migration: Differentiating Locals and Non-Locals in Tumulus Burials from Apollonia, Albania A thesis submitted to the Division of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Department of Anthropology of the College of Arts and Sciences August 2007 By Jennifer Rose Stallo B.S., University of Cincinnati, 2005 Committee Chairs: Dr. Vernon Scarborough Dr. Lynne Schepartz Dr. C. Jeffrey Jacobson Jr. ABSTRACT Strontium isotope ratio (87Sr/86Sr) analysis has been applied in archaeology since the 1980s to reconstruct patterns of migration. Analysis of the 87Sr/86Sr ratios from burial mounds (tumuli) excavated near the site of Apollonia, Illyria (modern day Albania) was performed to differentiate ‘locals’ and ‘non-locals’. The Greek colony founded at Apollonia around the beginning of the sixth century B.C.E. included a mixture of Greek colonists and native Illyrian people. As tumulus burials are the only burial features identified and excavated at Apollonia it was hypothesized that both Greek and Illyrian individuals would be represented in tumuli. If the Greek and Illyrian burials could be differentiated using 87Sr/86Sr ratios then insight into the changing interaction of Greeks and Illyrians at Apollonia is possible. 87Sr/86Sr ratio analysis of a sample of teeth from Apollonia reveals that non-locals were incorporated into tumulus 10 along with members of the local population. ii iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincere gratitude goes to Dr. Lynne Schepartz who encouraged me to pursue an advanced degree in anthropology and then fitted me with all of the resources and contacts necessary to engage in a research project that matched many of my interests. Without the help of Dr. Schepartz this thesis would not have been possible. My gratitude is also extended to Dr. Vernon Scarborough and Dr. C. Jeffrey Jacobson who assisted me with council and revisions of this thesis in spite of changing circumstances and time limitations. I am genuinely grateful for the many hours that Pamela and Jonathan volunteered in proofreading this thesis. The Albanian Rescue Archaeology Unit, primarily under the direction of Dr. Lorenc Bejko and Maria Grazia Amore, provided the materials necessary for analysis in this thesis from excavations they conducted at Apollonia, Albania. The strontium isotope and concentration analyses were made possible by the accommodation of Dr. Michael Richards and his team, particularly Dr. Vaughn Grimes and Annette Weiske, at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany. The completion of this thesis was possible only with the cooperation of these many people, all of whom I have endowed my deepest appreciation. Funding from the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center as well as the University of Cincinnati, Department of Anthropology Research Grant allowed me to travel to and from both Albania and Germany to conduct the necessary research for this project. Without such funding for graduate research many research questions would continue to go unanswered. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures……………………………………………………………………. ……… vi List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………… vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………. 1 CHAPTER 2 THE ILLYRIANS………………………………………………………….. 5 • Geography……………………………………………………………………….. 7 • Origin………………………………………………………………………………8 • Economy…………………………………………………………………………..9 • Burial Customs…………………………………………………………………... 10 Tumulus Burials at Apollonia…………………………………. 11 CHAPTER 3 GREEK EXPANSION: MIGRATION AND COLONIZATION………… 13 • Hypotheses for the Cause of Migration: Sorting Truth from Common Misconceptions…………………………………………………………………...14 • Corinth and Her Colonial Expeditions…………………………………………. 15 Foundation of Epidamnus and Apollonia in Illyria………….. 20 Relations between a Colony and the Mother-City………….. 21 • Overview of Greek Colonization in Illyria……………………………………... 23 CHAPTER 4 INTERACTION OF ILLYRIANS WITH GREEK COLONISTS………. 25 • Early Greek Perceptions of the Illyrians………………………………………. 25 • Interaction through Trade………………………………………………………. 26 • Control of Land…………………………………………………………………... 28 • Life and Death…………………………………………………………………… 30 CHAPTER 5 STRONTIUM ISOTOPE STUDIES: BACKGROUND AND METHODOLOGY………………………………………………….. 33 • Strontium Geochemistry…………………………………………………………34 • Methods and Materials………………………………………………………….. 40 Samples and Sample Preparation…………………………… 40 Clean Laboratory Sample Preparation………………………. 42 Sr-Isotope and Concentration Analysis……………………… 45 CHAPTER 6 RESULTS…………………………………………………………………. 46 CHAPTER 7 DISCUSSION…………………………………………………………….. 53 • Limitations to 87Sr/86Sr Studies………………………………………………… 53 • Analysis of the Results from Apollonia……………………………………….. 55 • 87Sr/86Sr Interpretaion Based on Geological Data…………………………… 58 • Migrants and Mortuary Customs………………………………………………. 61 CHAPTER 8 CONCLUSIONS………………………………………………………..… 63 REFERENCES CITED………………………………………………………….. ……… 67 v FIGURES 2-1 Illyrian territory…………………………………………………………... 6 3-1 Map of the Greek isthmus and Corinth……………………………… 17 3-2 Corinthian colonial expeditions………………………………………... 19 6-1 Distribution of 87Sr/86Sr ratio values divided by tissue type for each individual sampled …………………………………… 50 6-2 87Sr/86Sr and strontium concentration comparison for dental enamel, dentin, and modern snail shell analyzed…………… 51 7-1 Geology of Corinth……………………………………………………… 60 vi TABLES 2-1 Chronological timeline of the western Balkans…………………….. 9 6-1 87Sr/86Sr ratios and strontium concentrations of human tooth enamel, dentin, and modern snail shell samples collected at Apollonia……………………………………………………48 6-2 Archaeological burial details for samples collected at Apollonia……………………………………………………………… 52 vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Archaeology is a field that has changed in the past few centuries from a hobby of amateur scientists and treasure hunters to an interdisciplinary science. Today, in addition to the archaeologists or anthropologists, an archaeological investigation will often include geologists, geographers, biologists including botanists and geneticists, physicists, and chemists. When radioactive dating techniques were first applied in an archaeological context in the 1950s, it revolutionized archaeology as a science. In the 1980s, chemical analyses of archaeological bone began to allow archaeologists to test new questions about past people including dietary reconstruction, weaning patterns, and patterns of migration. The use of strontium (Sr) isotope ratios in migration studies was first suggested by Ericson (1985) because of the sensitivity of these ratios to local geochemistry. The goal of this thesis is to employ this technique in a burial mound (tumulus) to test the relationship between Greek colonists and the local Illyrian population at the Greek colony in Apollonia, Illyria (modern day Albania). Since 2002 the Albanian Rescue Archeology Unit has employed the most up-to- date archaeological methods to excavate tumuli 9, 10, and 11 in the Apollonia necropolis under the direction of Dr. Lorenc Bejko, Maria Grazia Amore, and Dr. Vangjel Dimo. Amore (2005) performed a great service to the site by combining information about Apollonia from primary historical documents as well as information about the site and the previous eight tumuli excavations. Much of the information that she synthesized in her thesis was either unpublished or recorded in a variety of languages, which limited access to the information for other researchers interested in the site. Amore concluded her thesis with hopes that physical anthropological investigations would provide insight 1 into many unanswered questions about the site, particularly in regard to the interaction between the Greek colonists and the native Illyrians. One of the goals of this thesis is to test the usefulness of archaeological chemistry in expanding current understandings of the foundation and continued use of tumuli burials at Apollonia. Other researchers have analyzed the primary documents and archaeological evidence to determine when and how the colony at Apollonia was founded. This thesis presents what is generally accepted by these researchers about the Illyrian people, the process and motivation of Greek colonization, the site at Apollonia specifically, and the interaction of Greek colonists and natives. After establishing a knowledge base of the people and processes involved in the foundation and maintenance of the colony at Apollonia, then the scientific background and methods are presented and the results interpreted. Using strontium isotope ratios to test migration at Apollonia will provide information that cannot be interpreted with certainty with traditional archaeological methods. The information obtained through this study will expand the current understanding of the site and interactions of the people who inhabited it. This thesis will test the hypothesis that as the Corinthian Greek colony in Apollonia, Illyria (modern day Albania) expanded its realm of influence, the relationship between native Illyrians and Greek colonists changed so that the Greeks began to adopt Illyrian customs