Diverse feasting networks at the end of the Bronze Age in Britain (c. 900-500 BCE) evidenced by multi-isotope analysis

2025/09/01 by Carmen Esposito, Angela L. Lamb, Morten B. Andersen +5 · 1 voice
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Social Sciences · #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.isci.2025.113271

openalex publication_date 2025/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

During the Bronze Age-Iron Age transition, climatic change and economic upheaval signaled societal shifts across Europe. Longstanding trade networks broke down and in southern Britain new sites, termed middens, emerged. These vast mounds of cultural debris represent the coming together of vast numbers of people and animals for feasts on a scale unparalleled in British prehistory. Faunal remains are key for assessing the catchments of these feasting events and the scale and nature of community connectivity. This study examines networks and scales of mobility that centered on these enigmatic sites through analysis of the largest multi-isotope dataset on faunal remains ( n = 254) yet generated in archaeology, aided by a random forest 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isoscape of Britain. The data evidence diverse site roles, with some middens anchoring wide-ranging networks and others being local centers for specialist economies, providing nuanced resolution into the social and economic dynamics of this transitional phase.

Citations

• ON ISOTOPES AND OLD BONES*
• Farming and feasting during the Bronze Age–Iron Age transition in Britain (ca. 900–500 bce): multi-isotope evidence for societal change
• Major excursions in sulfur isotopes linked to permafrost change in Eurasia during the last 50,000 years
• Strontium Isotopes from the Earth to the Archaeological Skeleton: A Review
• The control of the false discovery rate in multiple testing under dependency

Discussions

• Erratum: in my post yesterday on a recent Guardian article about Bronze Age feasting networks, I linked to a 2023 paper that was all I could find at the time. I’m grateful to @timdaw.bsky.social for [bsky, 2 points, 0 comments]

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