Strontium and oxygen isotope analysis reveals changing connections to place and group membership in the world's earliest village societies

Plug, JH, Blevins, KE, Abbès, F, Akkermans, PMMG, Bach Gómez, AM, Chambrade, ML, Chamel, B, Coqueugniot, E, Molist, M, Orange, M, van der Plicht, J, Galata, S ORCID: 0000-0002-9016-6308, Nowell, G, Montgomery, J, Pearson, J and Fernández-Domínguez, E (2025) Strontium and oxygen isotope analysis reveals changing connections to place and group membership in the world's earliest village societies. Scientific Reports, 15 (1). p. 34598. ISSN 2045-2322

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Abstract

The Neolithic of southwest Asia, 11,600-7500 years ago, charts the earliest establishment of permanent settlements and changes in food procurement and community structure that transformed human lifeways. Our understanding of the social behaviors that impacted these shifting connections to place and group membership can be improved by studying how people moved across landscapes. Parts of southwest Asia have shown contrasting evidence for mobility practices, but little is known from the Northern Levant, a region key to the development and transmission of agriculture and settled life, particularly for the latest Neolithic stages. We measured strontium and oxygen isotope values in 71 human teeth from five archeological sites in Syria, spanning the entire Neolithic period. A shift to broadly local communities following the establishment of village life suggests consolidation of group membership and deep connections to particular locales, perhaps aimed at social cohesion. Mobility then increases in the later Neolithic, explaining the high degree of cross-regional connectivity witnessed archeologically. A sex-bias towards female mobility during this period may point towards the formation of patrilocal traditions. At our sites both non-local and local individuals were afforded similar burial treatment, suggesting inclusivity in group membership and mobile individuals connecting to new places in the landscape.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Group membership; Mobility; Neolithic; Sr & O Isotope Analysis; Syria; Upper Mesopotamia; Humans; Oxygen Isotopes; Strontium Isotopes; Archaeology; Female; Male; Syria; Tooth; History, Ancient; Strontium; 4301 Archaeology; 4303 Historical Studies; 43 History, Heritage and Archaeology; 44 Human Society; 2 Zero Hunger; Humans; Oxygen Isotopes; Strontium Isotopes; Archaeology; Female; Male; Syria; Tooth; History, Ancient; Strontium
Subjects:	C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CB History of civilization D History General and Old World > DS Asia G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences
Divisions:	Biological and Environmental Sciences (from Sep 19)
Publisher:	Nature Publishing Group
Date of acceptance:	29 August 2025
Date of first compliant Open Access:	17 October 2025
Date Deposited:	17 Oct 2025 13:23
Last Modified:	17 Oct 2025 13:30
DOI or ID number:	10.1038/s41598-025-18134-3
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/27369

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