Exploring Lived Identities Via Bioarchaeological Analysis: Local Biologies and Social Identities of the Alamanni
Authors: Speith, N.
Journal: International Journal of Paleopathology (in prep.)
Abstract:Historically, the Alamanni, an early-medieval population in the centre of post-Migration Europe, have been characterised as warriors, peasants, and “wives”, assigning customary patterns of élite versus non-élite within a common Merovingian and thus kingdom-like configuration of social stratification. The hypothesis of an open-ranked society, with social stratification marked by fluidity between social statuses, achieved by individual efforts within society, could never be fully substantiated archaeologically through the analysis of material culture alone. This paper presents the bioarchaeological analysis of the population of Pleidelsheim, near Stuttgart, in southwest Germany (5th - 8th c. AD; 266 individuals), discussing a life-course approach combined with investigations of palaeopathological and activity-related markers. The prevalence of patterns of health and physical stress, exposure to risks of trauma, and differences in entheseal changes among different gender and age groups, combined with the analysis of biological indicators such as stature, and notable differences in mortuary evidence, reveal social mechanisms that embrace the concept of “local biologies” (Lock 1998). These point to a strong relationship between individuals and their socio-cultural and geographical environments. The results provide physical evidence for fluid social inequality by revealing patterns of attaining and maintaining rank within Alamannic society for those buried with grave goods, while indicating a highly active and labour-intensive life for individuals in burials lacking accoutrements. The data corroborate a previously only ostensibly supported open-ranked society and contradict universal interpretations of early-medieval “peasant-warriors” and invisible women, indicating differing active and social identities for males and females in this Alamannic population.
Source: Manual