An ancient skeleton found in Denmark belonged to a man who grew up in a community of coastal foragers but later moved to a community of farmers who sacrificed him. The research was published in the journal PLOS One.
The authors of the new study examined a human skeleton recovered from a peat bog in northwestern Denmark. He lived between 3300 and 3100 BC. The fragmented nature of the remains, including a fractured skull, indicates that he was sacrificed. DNA testing showed that he was genetically distinct from contemporary local skeletons.
Isotope analysis of strontium, carbon and oxygen in the man’s tooth enamel revealed that he spent his childhood on the coast of the Scandinavian Peninsula. At an early age it ate mainly fish and marine mammals, but in later adolescence sheep and goats became part of its diet. The people genetically closest to him were people from Norway and Sweden.
The results of the study show that the man grew up in a society of fishermen and gatherers in the north and later moved to a farming society in Denmark. Scholars believe he may have been a trader or slave integrated into the local society.
The study provides a new perspective on the interaction between Mesolithic and Neolithic societies in Europe.
“To our knowledge, this is the first time a study has been able to map the life history of a Northern European with such a high level of detail and at such high resolution in time and space,” the authors said.
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