Continuity or conquest? A multi-isotope approach to investigating identity in the Early Iron Age of the Southern Levant.

OBJECTIVES: Across the Mediterranean and Near East, the transition from the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1550-1200 BC) to the Early Iron Age (ca. 1200-900 BC) was accompanied by profound cultural change. While this transformation was initially attributed to invasion or conquest, more recent, nuanced interpretations of archaeological and biological data now emphasize the decline of palatial economies, a shift away from centralized political authority, and internal social restructuring amidst rapid climate change in lieu of "collapse." Correspondingly, the hypothesis that Early Iron Age populations in Palestine represent the same ethnic group whose culture nevertheless underwent considerable change by actively adapting to internal and external forces was tested using biogeochemical data from individuals interred within an Early Iron Age tomb at the site of Tell Dothan.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Human dental enamel from molars (n = 43) recovered from Tomb I at Tell Dothan was analyzed for radiogenic strontium isotope ratios and stable oxygen and carbon (VPDB) isotope values.
RESULTS: Strontium (mean = 0.70816 ± 0.00005, 1σ) isotope ratios, as well as oxygen (mean = -2.3 ± 0.7‰, 1σ) and carbon (mean = -11.9 ± 0.5‰, 1σ) isotope values, all display little variability. DISCUSSION: The absence of non-locals at Tell Dothan indicates that population replacement does not adequately explain the sociopolitical changes observed in the archaeological record. Further, homogeneity among isotope values is indicative of a community that was not highly mobile, suggesting that decentralization and a corresponding transition to a more mobile lifestyle may not accurately reflect the adaptive strategies of all human groups during this period as a mechanism to cope with social and environmental change.