They came from near and far – Strontium isotope analysis of people buried at the early Christian site of Varnhem, southwestern Sweden

Abstract

The Christianization of Sweden (8th–11th centuries) was a period of political, social, and religious change, and it implies a period of movement and mobility. Recent excavations at the Varnhem estate church grounds (Kata Gård), originally built around CE 1000 in Västergötland, Sweden, have yielded information about this period. This study uses strontium isotope analysis to investigate the lives of these early Christians buried at Kata Gård and identify the non-locals. Our results indicate that a large part of the adult population was non-local and had spent their childhoods in other geological areas, whereas the children had mostly local strontium isotope signatures.