REQUISITOS ESENCIALES DE SEGURIDAD

What do these bodies look like physically? Anthropological investigations of skeletal material from the rich cemetery record of the early Iron Age, inhumed and cremated remains, provide some answers. The methods and research questions of human biology have changed over the years. Morphometrics and ethnic categori-sations in the first half of the twentieth century gave way to an increased focus on palaeo-pathology and the reconstruction of individual life histories as inscribed in human bones by practices and habits, diet and nutrition, life circumstances and reproductive history, as well as other life events (for example, Agarwal and Glencross 2011). Palaeo-demography aims at reconstructing the composition of communities by looking at sex and age ratios, mortality, fertility and migration.

Isotope and DNA analyses (Bramanti 2013, Brown and Brown 2013, Eriksson 2013) of early Iron Age human remains promise exciting insights into diet and nutrition, migration and mobility, as well as kinship.

Individuals from elite graves, such as the ‘Dame de Vix’, France (Knüsel 2002, Rolley 2003), have received the most attention. Although several anthropological investigations classed her as a female who died at the age of approximately 30 to

The Iron Age setting 55 40, certain androgynous skeletal traits caused confusion. The individual suffered from episodes of childhood stress and congenital conditions that caused abnormal growth. Her skull is asymmetrical, and she ‘would have had a waddling gait and held her head tilted to the right side’ (Knüsel 2002: 292). Her stature, estimated at about 160 cm, matches that of the bronze kratēr in the grave.

Eleven individuals from elite burial mounds were recently compared to more than 100 late Bronze Age, 650 early Iron Age and 50 late Iron Age individuals from the region of Baden-Württemberg, Germany (Wahl et al. 2010). They included the central burial as well as Graves 2, 3 and 4 from Eberdingen- Hochdorf; the central burial as well as Graves 17 and 18 from Grafenbühl-Asperg; and the cen-tral burials of Ludwigsburg, Herbertingen-Hundersingen, Schöckingen and Mag-dalenenberg-Villingen. The study revealed that the elite male was, on average, 177 cm tall, 6 cm taller than 57 contemporary non-elite men. Aged at 43 rather than 37 years, on average, they died at a higher age than the average population.

Significant muscle markers, particularly of the arms, suggest trained bodies (Wahl et al. 2010: 33).

The Magdalenenberg near Villingen, Germany, contained an elite burial in a central wooden chamber and 126 secondary graves with 144 buried individu-als. Except for eight cremated individuals, all bodies were inhumed, but not par-ticularly well preserved (Gallay 1977). The mound included 13 children up to 14 years of age, 4 juveniles, 63 adults between 20 and 40 years of age and 22 adults over 40. Men and women were equally represented: men had an average height of 168 cm, women 164 cm (Gallay 1977: 107). Pathologies and traces of trauma were rare, but most probably because the bone preservation was too poor for further conclusions. Fourteen individuals suffered from caries; teeth showed heavy signs of abrasion.

A recent isotope analysis of 58 of the buried individuals from the Magdale-nenberg (using C, N, S, Sr and O isotopes) aimed to clarify if the community members buried in the mound were local or exogenous and to get some ‘insights into the social catchment area of the elite burial’ (Oelze et al. 2012: 408). The isotopic patterns were very heterogeneous, suggesting that people buried in the mound were not only local, but grew up in the wider region. About a third of the individuals may have lived on the local hillfort Kapf, but others likely came from the Black Forest, the Lake Constance area and perhaps even from south of the Alps (Oelze et al. 2012: 417). Both men and women were highly mobile in the early Iron Age.

A synoptic anthropological investigation of early Iron Age sites from the Upper Palatinate, including the cemeteries of Beilngries-Industriegebiet, Dietfurt- Tennisplatz and Schirndorf, included 420 individuals (Claassen 1989). The sub-adult ratios of the cemeteries, at 22 per cent, 18 per cent and 33 per cent, are thought to be too low to represent the whole communities, particularly because babies under one year of age are under-represented in the cemetery record. The average height of women from these cemeteries is 161 cm, and 170 cm for men;

the average age of death was between 31 and 32 years old for both sexes. Low frequencies of fractures, injuries and degenerative diseases of the skeletons were

noted. Cribra orbitalia is rare, which suggests a diet containing sufficient levels of iron. The caries frequency is low at around 10 per cent. Other cemeteries in the same region, Dietfurt-Tankstelle and Riedenburg-Untereggersberg, have since been further investigated (Augstein 2015, Nikulka 1998, Schubert 1998), adding to the picture of a relatively healthy population.

The anthropological investigation of 215 skeletons of an estimated 4000 from the cemetery of Hallstatt, Austria, identified 175 as adults, 70 as male and 43 as female; the subadult ratio of 19 per cent (29 children and 11 juveniles) is not thought to be representative (Pany 2009). Musculoskeletal markers revealed that both men and women worked hard. Men had the strongest marks on the upper arm, presumably from striking movements and from overcoming resistance; they had well-developed chest and back muscles. Women, on the other hand, showed different patterns of strain: their strongest marks are on the attachment sites of muscles that flex the elbow and lift the forearm. This pattern points to lifting, car-rying and pulling heavy loads. Women also showed asymmetrical signs of wear on the cervical vertebrae consistent with carrying loads on the shoulders. The gendered patterns of strain point to a labour division along gender lines. Children were involved in work from a young age, as degenerative signs and alterations in their skeletons suggest (Pany 2009: 140).

Cemeteries of the Dürrnberg near Hallein, Austria, date to the transition from the Early to the late Iron Age and to the La Tène period. At the cemetery Hexen-wandfeld (Wiltschke-Schrotta 2014) 72 burials were found in 29 graves, of which 58 individuals could be anthropologically evaluated. The sex ratio within the cem-etery is fairly balanced, and at least 15 of the individuals are of sub-adult age. The youngest children are two to three years old, which is consistent with the observa-tion that babies were buried in settlement locaobserva-tions (cf. Karl and Löcker 2011).

Women of the age class 21 to 25 were twice as likely as men to die of a compara-ble age, pointing to marriage and first motherhood at this age (Wiltschke-Schrotta 2014: 218). Enamel hypoplasia was found in all but six individuals. Children, par-ticularly those between the ages of three and five, presumably after weaning, were subject to nutritional deficiencies. These were also manifest in cribra orbitalia, which affected about half of the individuals, as well as the very frequent inflam-matory traces on long bones. Traces of inflammation caused by diseases such as meningitis, otitis, periostitis or osteomyelitis are common; the sinus durae matris and the paranasal sinuses were affected in 71 per cent and 56 per cent of individu-als, respectively (Wiltschke-Schrotta 2014: 228). Trepanation was thought to help combat the pain of such conditions, and at least one individual was treated in such a way on this cemetery. Trepanation is common in late Iron Age communities in Austria (for example, Urban, Teschler-Nicola and Schultz 1985). Degenerative diseases and trauma are not observed so often. Young adults showed surprisingly few signs of hard physical labour for a population that is thought to have lived from salt mining. Wear and tear of the skeleton, however, did strike in middle age.

The frequency of caries is about 42 per cent, comparable to other cemeteries of the Dürrnberg. The women from Hexenwandfeld were, on average, 157 cm tall, and the men 168 cm (Wiltschke-Schrotta 2014: 227).

The Iron Age setting 57 The high proportion of cremation graves makes the assessment of the physi-cal anthropology difficult in some areas. The large cremation cemetery of Bischofshofen-Pestfriedhof, Austria (Renhart 2009), encompassed 507 crema-tion graves, 68 of which contained more than one individual. Of the cremacrema-tions able to have their sex assigned, 64 per cent could be identified as female, 36 per cent as male; 18 per cent were sub-adult individuals. The prevalence of female burials has been noted in other Iron Age cemeteries, for example, Sopron, Hun-gary (Renhart 2009: 291). Only three babies under one year old are present in the cemetery, and the proportion of sub-adults is lower than the expected 50 per cent. The statistical life expectancy at birth was about 20 years; only 9 years if the child deficit is corrected and number and ages of missing children excluded from the funerary contexts are included in the demographic modelling. Having survived the dangerous time of childhood and adolescence, men could expect to die at an average age of 37, women at 35. The lower age is likely connected to the risk of pregnancy and childbirth. An average height of 171 cm for men and 160 for women was calculated from a few well-preserved individuals (Renhart 2009: 299).

At Statzendorf, Austria (Renhart 2006), life expectancy was slightly lower for women. Men were, on average, 166 cm tall, women 157 cm. Both men and women have muscle markers that speak for a well-trained, muscular body. According to the metrical diagnosis, the skulls appear to be medium length and narrow (Renhart 2006: 330–331). Although the cremated remains of the four individuals deposited at Kleinklein-Kröllkogel, Austria (Grill and Wiltschke-Schrotta 2013), were too fragmented for sexing and height assessment, the size of the bronze body armour suggests that the buried male member of the elite was about 180 cm tall.

An unusual context is that of 138 uncremated individuals recovered from the cave Durezza-Schachthöhle near Villach, Austria (Fabrizii-Reuer and Reuer 1997). Contemporary burials are cremation burials, but special events, such as warfare or plagues, may have resulted in unusual burial practices. The lack of grave goods and metal dress components, except for a few fibulae, finger rings and hair rings, as well as one arm ring, an earring and a few glass beads (Gleir-scher 1997), is also unusual for the Hallstatt period. It cannot be excluded that the cave represents a place of human sacrifice. Nevertheless, the sex and age distribu-tion does not differ significantly from what is known from early Iron Age cemeter-ies. The 36 children and 102 adults did not show any signs of perimortal trauma;

three men had injuries on the skulls that were in the process of healing. There is no evidence for particular bio-mechanical stress from hard physical labour, but the state of teeth was bad. Front teeth frequently showed heavy abrasion, and the caries frequency was high in comparison to contemporary cemeteries.

The Býčí skála cave, Czech Republic, in contrast, includes a wealth of mate-rial goods, for instance, a wagon, a figuratively decorated bronze vessel, Etruscan imports and other items one could expect in an elite burial. The cave contained the remains of 30 to 40 individuals, primarily skulls, whereas post-cranial skeletal parts are largely missing. Again, the sex and age distribution is not atypical for any living population. There is, however, evidence for post-mortem cut marks,

which strengthens the hypothesis of Býčí skála being a place of sacrifice or of burial after violent conflict (Parzinger 1996, Parzinger, Nekvasil and Barth 1995).

Taken together, the physical anthropology of early Iron Age people suggests some site-specific and regional differences in terms of health status, average body height and physical stress. Access to nutrition and physical labour was, at least in some areas, dependent on sex and social class. The average age of the living population was low at around 22 to 23 years of age, calculated from the aver-age aver-age at death above 25 and under 35 years (Burmeister and Gebühr in press).

A community of 20 people might typically include a baby and a toddler, three to five children from about age 3 to 14, two or three juveniles, about ten adults aged between 20 and 40 and a few people over this age. Whereas many settlement units probably did not exceed this scale, the Heuneburg hillfort and surrounding settlements might have housed as many as 5000 inhabitants (Fernández-Götz and Krausse 2012: 31).

4 Funerary practices