Monks on the move: evaluating pilgrimage to Byzantine St. Stephen's monastery using strontium...

Monks on the Move: Evaluating Pilgrimage to ByzantineSt. Stephen’s Monastery Using Strontium Isotopes

Susan Guise Sheridan1* and Lesley A. Gregoricka2

1Department of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 465562Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36688

KEY WORDS radiogenic strontium isotopes; residential mobility; pilgrimage; migration;Byzantine; Near East

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Written and archaeological evidence indicates that migration, in the form of pilgrimage to ByzantinePalestine, was a major social phenomenon between the 5th and 7th centuries CE. Monasteries saw record growth atthis time as pilgrims chose to stay in the region and take up religious life. A major influx of people to the region,with a corresponding growth in monastic vocations that led travelers to stay in the area, is not in question; however,the distant origins of pilgrims reflected in surviving texts may be an artifact of preservation, biased towards an eliteminority. The Byzantine monastery of St. Stephen’s provides an opportunity to study this question from a bioarch-aeological perspective, given the excellent preservation of the human skeletal assemblage, a wealth of written worksabout the community as well as daily life in Byzantine Palestine, and a rich archaeological record for the site andregion. Materials and Methods: An analysis of radiogenic strontium isotope values from the third molars of 22 indi-viduals recovered from the St. Stephen’s crypt complex was conducted to test whether those interred at the monas-tery were of local origin. Results: Of those examined (x�5 0.7084 6 0.0007, 1r), 8 out of 22 (36%) exhibited 87Sr/86Srratios that fell outside of local ranges. Discussion: These results confirmed the sizeable presence of nonlocals at St.Stephen’s Monastery. While most of these migrants likely traveled to Jerusalem from different areas of the Levantas pilgrims, others may have hailed from further afield, including Europe. Am J Phys Anthropol 000:000–000,2015. VC 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Jerusalem experienced its first “tourist boom” duringthe Byzantine period, as people flocked to the region tovisit sites associated with early Christianity (Murphy-O’Connor, 2008). Archaeological evidence of infrastruc-tural growth to support this influx is evident in the formof hostels, stables, roadways, and eulogia (religious sou-venirs) (Hirschfeld, 1992; Cameron, 1993; Voltaggio,2011). An abundance of written material from the periodand region indicates that pilgrimage to the “Holy Land”was a major cultural phenomenon that saw its zenithduring the 5th-7th centuries CE. It appears that manyvisitors chose to remain after arrival, taking up resi-dence in religious communities and fundamentally alter-ing the cultural and biological composition of the region(Binns, 1994; Tsafrir, 1996). An explosion in the numberof monasteries at this time is also clearly evident intextual and archaeological records (Hirschfeld, 1992;Patrich, 1995).

Buikstra et al. (1990:5) have argued that studies ofpopulation movement not firmly grounded in an evolu-tionary or historical framework are simply “tediousmechanical exercises.” Excellent preservation of humanremains coupled with rich archaeological and historicalrecords for St. Stephen’s monastery have allowed us toexplore how written accounts describing the origins ofpeople in Byzantine Jerusalem mesh with biological evi-dence from the inhabitants themselves (Binns, 1994).Dental metric (Williams et al., 2006) and nonmetric(Ullinger, 2002) investigations, as well as cranial non-metric analyses (Guappone et al., 2006), indicated arather homogeneous group of individuals who belongedto a broad Near Eastern gene pool, with a few traits

showing patterns similar to historic Europeans. Thesestudies complement the more refined examination ofdiversity at St. Stephen’s using radiogenic strontium(87Sr/86Sr) isotope patterns as described in the currentproject.

BYZANTINE MONASTICISM AND PILGRIMAGE

St. Stephen’s monastery

Byzantine St. Stephen’s monastery (31847’04.70”N;35813’45.66”E) in Jerusalem has been the subject of a largebioarchaeological investigation for 20 years (Sheridan,1999; Bautch et al., 2000; Driscoll and Sheridan, 2000;Leyerle, 2002; Gregoricka and Sheridan, 2012, 2013). The

Grant sponsor: National Science Foundation-Research Experien-ces for Undergraduates; Grant numbers: SES-0097568, SES-0244096, SES-0649088, SES-1005158; Grant sponsors: NationalEndowment for the Humanities; the Wenner-Gren Foundation forAnthropological Research; the Institute for Scholarship in theLiberal Arts, and the Glynn Family Honors Program at the Univer-sity of Notre Dame.

*Correspondence to: Susan G. Sheridan, Ph.D. Department ofAnthropology, University of Notre Dame, 611 Flanner Hall, NotreDame, IN 46556. E-mail: [email protected]

Received 17 April 2015; revised 12 July 2015; accepted 23 July2015

DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22827Published online 00 Month 2015 in Wiley Online Library

(wileyonlinelibrary.com).

� 2015 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 00:00–00 (2015)

site is located on the grounds of the present-dayFrench School for Biblical Archaeology and theDominican Monastery of St. Stephen (�Ecole Biblique etArch�eologique Francaise/Couvent Saint-�Etienne). Underthese modern structures lies a crypt complex hewn dur-ing the 8th-7th centuries BCE (Barkay and Kloner,1986), subsequently cleared and reused by the laterByzantine inhabitants (Lagrange, 1894). The tomb com-plex is composed of a large central room opening intoseveral smaller chambers (Fig. 1), each containing bur-ial benches and one large repository for the depositionof bones when the benches were needed for new inter-ments. The repository excavated for this study (Reposi-tory Six) measured approximately 2.03m (w), 1.74m (l),and 1.75m (d), from which we exhumed 15,0001human skeletal elements. Using the calcaneus andtalus, MLNI (Most Likely Number of Individuals) calcu-lations provided a collection size estimate of approxi-mately 250 individuals (Adams and Konigsberg, 2004;Ahmed et al., 2011), while the minimum number ofindividuals (MNI) calculation using the proximal femorawas 177 individuals (Sheridan, 1999).

Archaeological and textual evidence of the Byzantineoccupation of St. Stephen’s is evidenced by the founda-tions of a basilica (Vincent and Abel, 1926; Ovadiah,1970), detailed mosaics and inscriptions (Lagrange,1894), large cisterns (Goldfus, 1997), at least six tradi-tional Byzantine-style tombs (Vincent and Abel, 1926),and the site’s regular occurrence in writings byByzantine authors such as Cyril of Scythopolis (Price

and Binns, 1991), John Rufus (Raabe, 1895), Theodisius(Wilkinson, 1976), Antoninus (Tobler and Molinier,1879), the Piacenza Pilgrim (Geyer and Cuntz, 1965),and Evagrius (Bidez and Parmentier, 1898). Artifacts(n 5 202) commingled with the skeletal remains—includingfragments of clay oil lamps (n 5 15), some with clearly-preserved Byzantine iconography, pottery sherds(n 5 83), glass fragments (n 5 39), inscriptions with thenames of known historical figures (n 5 4), plus jewelryand devotional objects (n 5 2)—further aided temporalplacement of the collection firmly in the Byzantineperiod (Vincent and Abel, 1926; Bautch et al., 2000).

Chemical tests corroborated these results (Table 1).Fluoride analysis (F-) showed a very tight grouping ofelemental concentrations in a large sample of ribs(n 5 522), indicating that they shared a similar burialenvironment for an equivalent period of time. Radiocar-bon dating (n 5 10) demonstrated that the bones werefrom the 5th-7th centuries CE. Moreover, comparablenumbers of antimeres of osseous elements (proximal anddistal femora, calcanei, tali, pubic symphyses, proximalulnae) indicated that this represents a discrete collectionof individuals (Sheridan, 1999).

The site has enjoyed a long and storied history. TheByzantine monastery was endowed by Empress Eudociato honor St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, whosebones, tradition holds, were placed beneath the entranceof the basilica (Clark, 1982). The location subsequentlybecame known for healing powers ascribed to Stephen’spurported remains, the size and grandeur of the

Fig. 1. The burial crypt at St. Stephen’s Monastery, as well as a map with the location of St. Stephen’s relative to the Old Cityof Jerusalem during the Byzantine period (Adapted from Lagrange, 1894 and Gregoricka and Sheridan, 2013).

2 S.G. SHERIDAN AND L.A. GREGORICKA

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

monastic complex, and its members’ political standing inthe Byzantine church (Vincent and Abel, 1926; Kazhdan,1992). Given its affiliation with St. Stephen, consider-able imperial patronage, and a prime location along athoroughfare of activity in Jerusalem (Voltaggio, 2011),it is not surprising that the site appears in many writ-ings of the era (e.g., Binns, 1994).

Demographic analyses of the commingled remainsfrom St. Stephen’s indicated a very healthy, robust,largely male group averaging 167–172 cm (5’6–5’8”) inheight, who lived (on average) into their mid-40s (Sheri-dan, 1999). Degenerative lesions of the lower limb wereplentiful (Driscoll and Sheridan, 2000), but there wasvery little evidence of neoplastic, congenital, infectious,inflammatory, or traumatic pathological conditions inthe collection (Sheridan, 1999). Analysis of diet usingstable carbon and nitrogen isotopes from bone collagenindicated these monks consumed more animal proteinthan prescribed in the patristic literature (Gregorickaand Sheridan, 2013). However, given the urban settingfor the monastery and the wealth indicated by survivingtexts (Hunt, 1982; Binns, 1994), it is entirely possiblethat the inhabitants of St. Stephen’s had a wider arrayof menu items available than their counterparts indesert monasteries (about whom most dietary accountswere written). All of the aforementioned patterns are inkeeping with reports of a large, wealthy monastery atthe site, although they do indicate that the lived experi-ence of these urban monks may have diverged from theprescribed ideal of asceticism championed in the reli-gious texts of the period.

As previously mentioned, cranial and dental metricand nonmetric analyses suggest a relatively homogene-ous group, bearing closest resemblance to collectionsfrom the Levantine corridor (Ullinger, 2002; Guappone

et al., 2006; Williams et al., 2006). The Levant encom-passes a large region (including modern-day Israel, Pales-tine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and southern Turkey); thus,while the individuals at St. Stephen’s appear to share aregional gene pool, it is quite possible that they hail froma variety of locations around the eastern ByzantineEmpire. Data from these studies also hint at a Europeaninfluence that may provide evidence for pilgrimage over awider geographic expanse. It is important to remember,however, that Palestine was under Roman rule longbefore the Byzantine era, affording temporal depth to theflow of genes from Europe. Thus, some of the nonmetricpatterns exhibited by these individuals may reflect repro-ductive separation of ethnic groups over generationsrather than a recent introduction of new alleles.

Analysis of radiogenic strontium isotopes in humandental enamel may offer a way to refine this distinctionby differentiating local (Jerusalem and its environs)from nonlocal signatures. This technique was used totest the hypothesis that individuals interred in the St.Stephen’s crypt complex originated from a wide array oflocales, corresponding to the burial of nonlocals(pilgrims) within the tomb complex.

The St. Stephen’s collection is the only large, well-excavated human skeletal assemblage representing Byz-antine monks from an urban habitation available forIsrael/Palestine, complemented by a substantial materialand written record ideal for bioarchaeological analysis.Since St. Stephen’s was richly endowed and affiliatedwith a biblical figure who at the time was “second onlyto Christ in Christian veneration” (Hunt, 1982), we pro-pose that the individuals interred at the site representan excellent sample for the analysis of pilgrimage/migration during this period of considerable social andbiological flux.

TABLE 1. Chemical analyses used for temporal placement of the human skeletal remains recovered from Repository Six of St. Ste-phen’s monastery

Analysis n

Identification DatesRelative Contribution

to ProbabilitiesLab Specimen Uncalibrated 14C (cal BP)e 2-sigma(cal AD)

Fluoride Datinga 522 Univ. of Notre DameArchaeometry Lab

Very tight clustering indicated the remains were interred for acomparable period of time (mean %F 5 0.56 6 0.01)

AMS C14 Dating 10 UGAMSb 18078 EBNDd 3.49 1090 6 20 BP 939–943 1007–1011 0.01954–1014 936–996 0.631018–1056 894–932 0.36

UGAMS 18232 EBND 2.111 1240 6 20 BP 1082–1160 790–868 0.241172–1194 756–778 0.171196–1263 687–754 0.59

UGAMS 18231 EBND 1.346 1270 6 20 BP 1180–1270 680–770 1.00UGAMS 18083 EBND 18.13 1460 6 20 BP 1307–1384 566–643 1.00UGAMS 19335 EBND 1.320 1480 6 20 BP 1318–1402 548–632 1.00UGAMS 18233 EBND 9.416 1490 6 20 BP 1330–1409 541–620 1.00UGAMS 19336 EBND 9.420 1510 6 20 BP 1342–1416 534–608 0.93

1463–1479 471–487 0.041499–1515 435–451 0.03

UGAMS 18079 EBND 6.89 1530 6 25 BP 1353–1424 526–597 0.551429–1443 507–521 0.041455–1522 428–495 0.41

UGAMS 18077 EBND 3.44 1550 6 20 BP 1391–1448 502–559 0.351451–1522 428–499 0.65

BETAc 384041 EBND 1.109 1590 6 30 BP 1490–1545 405–541 1.00

a Data from Sansoni, 1995.b UGAMS, University of Georgia Center for Applied Isotopic Studies.c BETA, Beta Analytic.d EBND, �Ecole Biblique/Notre Dame archaeological specimen ID.e Calibrations calculated with Calib Rev 7.0.4 (Reimer et al., 2013).

EVALUATING PILGRIMAGE TO ST. STEPHEN’S USING SR 3


Pilgrimage to Jerusalem

Once Christianity became the imperially sanctionedreligion of the Roman Empire (early 4th century CE),people began to venture to the region to “walk in thefootstep of Jesus” (Pax, 1999). Roads and communicationnetworks laid down by earlier Roman incursions intoPalestine provided the infrastructure needed to facilitatesuch travel (Hunt, 1982). Eulogia (religious tokens fromsites visited) have been found throughout Eurasia andAfrica attesting to the popularity of the “Holy Land” dur-ing the Byzantine period (Frank, 2000). An abundanceof written histories, letters, speeches praising sites andaugust individuals, liturgical texts, and travelogues like-wise speak to this cultural phenomenon (Binns, 1994).Indeed, those who visited were dubbed “athletes ofChrist,” denoting the often long and arduous journeyinvolved (Coleman and Elsner, 1995:91) and the statusconferred to those who made the journey.

Pilgrimage often refers to a religious journey distinctfrom tourism or commerce (Leyerle, 2002), althoughpost-modern interpretations blur that line (Collins-Kreiner, 2009). In antiquity, there was no discrete termin Greek or Latin to distinguish the pilgrim from a“foreigner, wanderer, exile, traveler. . .newcomer andstranger” (Collins-Kreiner and Kliot, 2000:56). The crite-ria for pilgrimage espoused by Turner and Turner(1978:xxxvi) that communitas—a voluntary transition toa new place in fellowship with those sharing a religiousviewpoint—is clearly met by the phenomenon of Byzan-tine pilgrimage to Jerusalem. As is Eade and Sallnow’s(1991) requirement that pilgrimage be viewed in relationto specific historical instances, such as the opening ofthe Levant to Christians following Emperor Constan-tine’s adoption of the faith in 313 CE.

Reasons for embarking on a pilgrimage to Jerusalemvaried from piety, devotion, and penance, to curiosity,rejuvenation, and adventure (Cousineau, 1998). Somesaw the “Holy Land” as a physical representation of thestories of the Bible (Steiner, 2011); others believed it pro-vided a bridge between the earthly and divine (Hunt,2002). The written record indicates that this activitywas undertaken by a broad cross-section of the Byzan-tine populace (Coleman and Elsner, 1995), with someeven traveling from beyond the Empire’s borders, comingfrom India, Persia, and Ethiopia (Dauphin, 1997), aswell as Vietnam and Georgia (e.g., Hunt, 1982; Binns,1994). Nevertheless, travelers from the Mediterraneanand west of Palestine were the most common subjects ofJerusalem pilgrimage texts (e.g., Hunt, 1982). Themajority of these provide accounts of wealthy travelers,and although it was by no means the sole domain of therich (e.g., Wilkinson, 1976), individuals of lesser statuswere not regularly recorded in the histories of theregion, and their accounts were less likely to end up inthe imperial or monastic collections that survived to thisday (Stopford, 1994).

Whether pilgrimage fits a traditional model of migra-tion is debated. As a form of population mobility, it satis-fies some of Ravenstein’s (1885) theory of humanmigration, in that: (a) it often occurs in waves; (b) mostpeople relocate short spans; (c) those who travel greaterdistances are drawn to cities like Jerusalem due, inpart, to greater economic opportunities; and, (d) thisactivity is undertaken by adults rather than families orchildren (Grigg, 1977). In addition, pilgrimage to Byzan-tine Jerusalem also fits Mascie-Taylor et al.’s (2004)

requirement that the insertion of a diverse group of peo-ple into a new location (with subsequent active geneflow) is necessary for an adequate biocultural study ofthe interactions of genes and environment on migration.

Nevertheless, many demographers feel that migrationmust include a permanent change in location (Janoschkaand Haas, 2013). While the original itineraries of Byzan-tine pilgrims may have included round-trip travel,numerous sources indicate that visitors often stayed inthe region, many joining monasteries (Mango, 1980).Some remained due to piety inspired by the location,others because it markedly improved their quality oflife, providing reliable food, shelter, and community.Less wealthy individuals often stopped to work for aperiod to secure funds for continuing travel, thus length-ening their stay in the region to years and decades.Ironically, the empress that endowed St. Stephen’s mon-astery was one such transplanted pilgrim from Constan-tinople (Holum, 1982).

Byzantine pilgrimage was commonly undertaken byadults (e.g., Binns, 1994). However, there are a few sto-ries of children running away from home to journey tothe “Holy Land.” For example, at the age of 14, Luke theYounger of Kastorion, Greece persuaded two monks trav-eling to Jerusalem to take him along; he only got as faras Athens on his second attempt to run away, beforebeing returned to his mother (Greenfield, 2009). Simi-larly, as a young boy, George Chozebites escaped hisuncles in Cyprus to live at a monastery near Jerusalemwith his brother (Miller, 2003). It is worth noting that inboth cases, these religiously precocious youths becamesaintly figures, a common trope in “pious biographies” ofthe period (Hatlie, 2006:190). Although strict rules aboutthe age of maturity for joining a monastery were notestablished until the mid-seventh century, most textsappear to mark the transition from male child- to adult-hood by the growth of a beard (Hatlie, 2006).

The vast majority of recorded pilgrimages were under-taken by males (e.g., Wilkinson, 1976). There are indeednotable examples of female travelers; however, women’sroles in Byzantine society were constrained due to lim-ited economic opportunities and familial expectations(Wilkinson, 1999; Craig, 2003). This study focuses onmen, as demographic analyses of the skeletal remains atSt. Stephen’s showed a marked preponderance of males.

Byzantine pilgrimage began to slow in the mid-sixthcentury as a series of droughts, plagues, earthquakes,wars with Persia, and the rise of Islam made travelintermittently more difficult to eastern destinations inthe empire (Mango, 1980; Krueger, 2006). Although arelatively peaceful transition initially, the end of theByzantine period in Palestine occurred in 637 CE withthe Arab Conquest (Murphy-O’Connor, 2008). Pilgrimageto holy sites continued into the 9th century AD, but at asignificantly reduced rate (Sheridan, 1999).

STRONTIUM ISOTOPE BIOGEOCHEMISTRY

The ratio of two isotopic variants of strontium—87Srand 86Sr—permits an assessment of residential mobilityand migration practices by distinguishing between isoto-pically distinct geologic regions where individuals livedin childhood and were interred upon death (Bentley,2006). A product of rubidium (87Rb) decay, 87Sr varies inabundance within igneous bedrock, so that overall87Sr/86Sr values represent a complex product of mineralage and composition (Ericson, 1985; Faure, 1986).



Weathered bedrock releases strontium into local ecosys-tems and is incorporated into the developing dentalenamel of subadults as local plants and animals are con-sumed (Price et al., 1994). Nevertheless, the high atomicmass of strontium precludes any measurable fractiona-tion, resulting in 87Sr/86Sr ratios consistent acrosstrophic levels within a given environment (Graustein,1989; Beard and Johnson, 2000). Because enamelhydroxyapatite forms during childhood and does notremodel later in life, its 87Sr/86Sr values will reflect theparticular geologic region where an individual resided inearly life (Price et al., 2002; Bentley, 2006).

Enamel 87Sr/86Sr ratios from archaeological fauna canbe utilized to delineate local from non-local strontiumsignatures. These fauna provide a more accurate repre-sentation of local 87Sr/86Sr bioavailability than isolatedsoil or plant samples because their consumption pat-terns—like those of humans—necessarily draw onresources over a broader area that may include bedrockof variable age and composition (Sealy et al., 1991; Sillenet al., 1998). Correspondingly, a local baseline may bederived from the mean 87Sr/86Sr faunal value and twostandards deviations (Grupe et al., 1997; Price et al.,2002).

Geologic and bioavailable 87Sr/86Srsignatures in the Levant

While considerable geologic variability characterizesthe Levant, the region can be separated into broad geo-logic zones that run along north-south gradients andexhibit relatively distinct strontium signatures, makingan examination of geographic origins and residentialmobility possible (Fig. 2). These zones include thecoastal plain, west, and east highland systems surround-ing the Jordan Rift Valley, and the mountains abuttingthe eastern rift valley.

The coastal plains bordering the eastern shores of theMediterranean Sea are comprised of Quaternary sedi-ments. While loose sand dunes of gravel and silt line theimmediate coastline, the larger central plain is domi-nated by Quaternary alluvium interspersed with largeoutcrops of red sand and loam and smaller intrusions ofcalcareous sandstones (Neev et al., 1987; Sneh et al.,1998). Strontium ratios from these plains derived fromarchaeological and modern fauna (Shewan, 2004; Perryet al., 2008, 2011), modern vegetation (Hartman andRichards, 2014), and marine life from the Mediterranean(Hodell et al., 1990), together produced 87Sr/86Sr valuesfrom 0.70811 to 0.70925.

In contrast, the study area of Jerusalem is located inthe highlands east of the coastal plain and west of theJordan Rift Valley. Some 1,000 m in elevation above thevalley, the highlands consist primarily of Upper andLower Cretaceous limestone, dolostone, marl, and chert(Sneh et al., 1998; Arkin and Ecker, 2007). While the rel-ative absence of strontium isotope data for Levantinebedrock geology does pose some limitations to a morecomprehensive evaluation of the 87Sr/86Sr isoscapes ofthe highlands, as well as the larger region, a sizeabledataset of modern flora, archaeological and modernfauna collected by Shewan (2004) provides an excellentproxy for bioavailable strontium throughout this zone.Correspondingly, across these western highlands,87Sr/86Sr ratios range from 0.70804 to 0.70830 (Shewan,2004). While similar values are generated by modernplants growing in rendzina soils in northern Israel

(0.7079–0.7084), plants atop the more dominant terrarossa soils of the north possess an elevated mean87Sr/86Sr value of 0.7085 6 0.0003 (Hartman and Rich-ards, 2014). Further variability is introduced by theyoung basalts characteristic of the bedrock surroundingGalilee and the Golan, demonstrating low bioavailablestrontium values between (0.7047–0.7069) (Hartmanand Richards, 2014).

An extension of the rift system in East Africa, the Jor-dan Rift Valley encompasses the depressed, narrowexpanse between the Dead Sea in the south and the Seaof Galilee in the north. This area is chiefly composed ofQuaternary sediments, including sandstone, mudstone,and gravel, but with some Tertiary fluvial deposits fromwadi runoff originating in the mountains just east of therift (Sneh et al., 1998; Perry et al., 2008). Enamel andbone from archaeological and modern fauna from the riftvalley are characterized by 87Sr/86Sr 5 0.70782 to0.70792, representing a geologic zone adjacent to, butisotopically dissimilar from, the western highlands (She-wan, 2004; Perry et al., 2008, 2011; Hartman and Rich-ards, 2014). Seawater samples from the southernboundary of this valley, the Dead Sea, produce slightlyelevated ratios relative to fauna that average 87Sr/86Sr 50.70803 (Stein et al., 1997).

Just east of the Jordan Rift Valley, but before thehighlands of western Jordan, a narrow channel of com-plex geologic composition contains a series of mountainsand associated wadis flowing westward into the rift.Middle Jurassic limestone, dolostone, and marl charac-terize these mountains east of the Rift Valley in thenorth, but give way to Lower Triassic and Paleozoic

Fig. 2. Geologic map of the Levant (adapted from Shewan,2004).



sandstones further south along the eastern shoreline ofthe Dead Sea (Bender, 1974, 1975; Sneh et al., 1998).Perry et al. (2008) sampled archaeological rodent dentalenamel throughout this mountain system and found87Sr/86Sr values ranging from 0.70792 to 0.70810. To theeast of this narrow corridor, the highlands of west Jor-dan consist of Cretaceous carbonate rock (mostly lime-stone) overlain with Quaternary deposits (Bender, 1974,1975). This geologic zone is bordered to the east by Terti-ary bedrock (Shewan, 2004). Archaeological rodent enamelfrom the Jordanian highlands exhibited 87Sr/86Sr 5

0.70815–0.70834 (Perry et al., 2008).

MATERIALS

A variety of fauna were commingled with the humanskeletal remains in Repository Six at St. Stephen’s, 10 ofwhich were sampled for radiogenic strontium isotopeanalysis. This assemblage consisted of teeth from domes-ticated donkey (n 5 1), dog (n 5 3), goat (n 5 4), and pig(n 5 2). While radiocarbon dating clearly places humanremains within the Byzantine period, the dating of com-mingled animal bone from the same repository has pro-ven more temporally variable, and in some cases,suggests that fauna recovered from the crypt wereplaced there centuries after its Byzantine human occu-pants had been laid to rest (Gregoricka and Sheridan,2013). Because animal bone is commingled, radiocarbondates derived from faunal bone are not associated withthe 10 teeth sampled here, and chronometric ranges arenot available.

Dental enamel from 22 human left maxillary thirdmolars was analyzed from Repository Six of the burialcrypts at St. Stephen’s monastery. Due to the com-mingled nature of the remains, sex and age estimatescould not be directly associated with the isolated teethused in this study; however, previous analyses of multi-ple osseous sex determination features from the samerepository indicated that almost all of the tomb’s occu-pants (96%) were male, fitting with their direct mortu-ary association to the monastery (Sheridan, 1999). Foradult maxillary 3rd molars, male tooth crown formationis finished by �15 years of age (AlQahtani et al., 2010).For teeth sampled in this study, root growth was alsocomplete for all third molars, indicative of adults overthe age of 19–21 years of age (Hillson, 1996). All bonesand teeth were curated using EBND (�Ecole Biblique–Notre Dame) levels and specimen numbers.

METHODS

Buccal or lingual surfaces on molar crowns weremechanically cleaned using a carbide burr attached toDremel 300 Series Rotary Tool before 3–5 mg of pow-dered enamel were extracted for analysis. Enamel wasprepared for radiogenic strontium isotope analysis at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Isotope Geo-chemistry Laboratory using conventional techniques dis-cussed in Perry et al. (2008, 2009). Strontium wasseparated from dissolved enamel powder using columnchromatography (50–100 lm diameter EiChrom Sr-Specresin). Strontium isotope ratios were measured on a VGMicromass Sector 54 thermal ionization mass spectrome-ter (TIMS) in quintuple-collector dynamic mode. Aninternal ratio of 86Sr/88Sr 5 0.1194 was used to correctfor mass fractionation. Ratios are reported relative to avalue of 0.710270 6 0.000014 (2r) for the NBS-987 stand-ard. Internal precision for strontium runs is typically60.000012–0.000018% (2r) standard error based on 100dynamic cycles of data collection. All analyses wereperformed using Statistical Analysis Software (SAS)version 9.3.

RESULTS

The dental enamel of archaeological fauna (n 5 10)commingled with the human bones at St. Stephen’s mon-astery was analyzed to determine the bioavailability ofstrontium isotopes in the region (Table 2). Two of these,a donkey and a pig, were reported in a previous study(Cooper et al., 2007). Overall, the fauna ranged in87Sr/86Sr value from 0.7080 to 0.7085, exhibited a meanof 0.7082 6 0.0002 (1r), and produced a local (2r) rangeof 0.7079–0.7086 against which human values were eval-uated. When examined by faunal type, dogs (n 5 3) pos-sessed the largest range of 87Sr/86Sr values at 0.7080–0.7085, with an associated mean of 0.7082 6 0.0003 (1r),

TABLE 2. Strontium isotope ratios for faunal enamel samplesfrom the crypt complex at St. Stephen’s monastery

Species Specimen Tooth 87Sr/86Sr

Donkeya no data no data 0.708171Dog EBND 522 LLC 0.708522Dog EBND 1 RM1 0.708048Dog EBND 27 LRC 0.707991Goat EBND 423 RM3 0.708423Goat EBND 42 RM1 0.708270Goat EBND 265 RM1 0.708265Goat EBND 37 LM2 0.708227Piga no data no data 0.708100Pig EBND 79 LM1 0.708100

a Cooper et al., 2007.

TABLE 3. Strontium isotope ratios for Byzantine humanenamel samples from St. Stephen’s monastery

Sample

87Sr/86SrID EBND

B 24.25 0.707632Y 9.439 0.707709L 6.352 0.707728C 27.21 0.707783N 5.193 0.708123H 20.31 0.708154J 3.28 0.708199T 7.169 0.708205R 6.123 0.708218S 19.195 0.708225P 5.262 0.708231G 18.325 0.708233Q 9.24 0.708264I 9.474 0.708267K 5.245 0.708301D 28.26 0.708402M 11.97 0.708474O 13.447 0.708588W 23.270 0.709068E 28.99 0.709238F 5.242 0.709938A 12.18 0.710446

ID, specimen ID for analysis; EBND, �Ecole Biblique/NotreDame archaeological identification.



goat (n 5 4) 87Sr/86Sr ratios ranged from 0.708227 to0.708423 and displayed a mean 87Sr/86Sr value of0.708296 6 0.000009 (1r), and two different pigs exhib-ited identical value of 87Sr/86Sr 5 0.708100. After nor-mality was assessed (D’Agostino-Pearson K2; P 5 0.15), alack of statistical significance when organizing fauna bytype (ANOVA; P 5 0.64) suggested that these animalswere not significantly different from one another andwere likely local to the area.

Human enamel from the crypt complex beneath St.Stephen’s Monastery exhibited a 87Sr/86Sr mean of0.7084 6 0.0007 (1r, n 5 22) and ranged from 0.7076 to0.7105 (Table 3, Fig. 3). Human 87Sr/86Sr values were notnormally distributed (D’Agostino-Pearson K2; P< 0.01);consequently, the nonparametric Mann-Whitney U andLevene’s tests were each selected to compare humanand faunal samples. For humans, while the median(M 5 0.708232) was not statistically different (Mann-Whitney; U 5 92, z 5 0.71, P 5 0.24) when compared toarchaeological fauna (M 5 0.708199), variance (Levene’s;F 5 4.6, P 5 0.04) was statistically significant.

DISCUSSION

Recent efforts (e.g., Bentley, 2007; Knudson and Tung,2011) to define local strontium ranges using human (notfaunal) 87Sr/86Sr ratios were not applied to this collec-tion. Such an attempt would be problematic if persistentpilgrimage to St. Stephen’s resulted in a considerableand enduring presence of nonlocals accepted into thismonastic community, as the textual record for the periodsuggests. Bone hydroxyapatite undergoes continuousremodeling, with complete replacement occurring every7–10 years to 10–20 years of life, depending on bonetype (Jowsey and Gordan, 1971; Lowenstam and Weiner,1989; Schutkowski et al., 2001); as a result, not onlyrecent immigrants but also those who had settled inJerusalem up to 20 years beforehand may bias any localranges produced by 87Sr/86Sr values in bone. As such,established means of calculating local radiogenic

strontium ranges—generated using two standard devia-tions above and below the total faunal 87Sr/86Sr ratiomean—were utilized for this study (Grupe et al., 1997;Price et al., 2002). Nonlocals were defined as individualsfalling outside the range of strontium bioavailability forthe area.

Using a local range as defined by archaeological faunafrom St. Stephen’s, 13 individuals (D, G, H, I, J, K, M,N, P, Q, R, S, T) of 22 sampled were identified as locals.A fourteenth individual (O) falls just above the maxi-mum of this range (10.000043) and was also likely localto the Jerusalem area. Conversely, a total of eight repre-sent outliers relative to this range and are thus consid-ered non-local: four (B, C, L, Y) fell below the boundaryof the minimum local range, while four others (A, E, F,W) possessed 87Sr/86Sr ratios surpassing the maximumvalue of this range.

Hypothesized isotopic variability based on historicrecords describing the Byzantine practice of pilgrimage tothe Holy Land was supported by radiogenic strontiumisotope data, which demonstrate that 36% of the individu-als sampled in this study likely originated from outside ofJerusalem. However, the origin of these nonlocal immi-grants is less clear. The 87Sr/86Sr ratios of the four teeth(B, C, L, Y) exhibiting low values (0.70771 6 0.00006, 1r)relative to local ranges do not match any of the extensivegeologic or bioavailable strontium data for the Levant,suggesting that these individuals originated outside ofJerusalem and undertook a journey to arrive at St. Ste-phen’s sometime after �15 years of age. Nonetheless,their 87Sr/86Sr values approach (but do not reach) bioa-vailable strontium ranges reported for the Jordan RiftValley (0.70782–0.70792), making it possible that thesenonlocal migrants hailed from elsewhere in the Levant.

Conversely, samples W and E demonstrate values com-parable to bioavailable strontium along the eastern Med-iterranean coastline (0.70811 to 0.70925) (Shewan, 2004;Perry et al., 2008; Hartman and Richards, 2014); never-theless, because the 87Sr/86Sr value of seawater is0.70923 (Sealy et al., 1991), these individuals may have

Fig. 3. Strontium isotope ratios for human dental enamel samples from St. Stephen’s monastery. The locally defined range ofbioavailable strontium is designated by the area between the two dotted lines.



migrated from a coastal location elsewhere, includingnorthern Africa or southern Europe. Finally, enamelfrom A and F display 87Sr/86Sr ratios far higher thanthose reported for the Levant, again signifying individu-als whose childhood residence not only differed fromthose in Jerusalem, but who embarked on a long journeyto reach this destination. Such values have been reportedthroughout central and eastern Europe, including Austria(Price et al., 2004), Czech Republic (Price et al., 2004),Germany (Price et al., 1994, 2001, 2004, 2006), Hungary(Giblin et al., 2013), and Poland (Buko et al., 2013; Gre-goricka et al., 2014), as well as northern Europe, includ-ing Denmark (Price et al., 2011) and Sweden (Price et al.,2011), making it possible that these potential pilgrimshailed from the European continent.

This interpretation fits with previous studies con-ducted on the St. Stephen’s human skeletal remains.Williams and colleagues’ (2006) analysis of tooth crownmeasurements revealed a high level of similarity notonly to several Near Eastern collections, but also toEurope, particularly Italy. This is not surprising givenItaly’s long history of Roman incursion into the Levant,and later, because southern Italy was part of the Byzan-tine Empire. Further, while Ullinger’s (2002) study ofnonmetric traits on the same teeth showed that the St.Stephen’s collection was most closely related to earlyNear Eastern groups, a connection to historic Europeanswas also present.

Because third molars were used in this study, thoseindividuals classified as “local” were either from theJerusalem area or grew up in a region with 87Sr/86Srratios quite similar to Jerusalem during the period ofM3 enamel crown formation (approximately 8–15 yearsof age). However, this makes the “local” designation, bydefinition, a conservative estimate. Given the abundantwritten record of pilgrimage to Jerusalem, it is thereforepossible that there were more nonlocals at Byzantine St.Stephen’s than can be determined using the currentmethodology because these individuals came to the“Holy Land” before enamel maturation was complete.While the written record indicates that pilgrimage toJerusalem by children was not commonplace, their jour-neys to the region nevertheless rate inclusion in storiesabout sainted figures to aid in their veneration. More-over, strict rules about the age one could join a monas-tery were not codified until the mid-7th century AD.Overall, then, while recognizing that the majority of pil-grims were likely adult males, it remains possible thatadditional nonlocals who were migrating to Jerusalemas young children may be present.

The geology of the region may mask the presence ofadditional pilgrims to St. Stephen’s. Because the fivegeologic zones comprising the Levant extend north-south, individuals growing up hundreds or even thou-sands of kilometers apart in the region may neverthelessshare similar 87Sr/86Sr values if residence falls alongthis longitudinal gradient. Subsequently, anyone whosechildhood was spent in the highlands west of the JordanRift Valley atop Cretaceous limestone, whether near theSea of Galilee, in Jerusalem, or well south of the DeadSea, should show comparable enamel 87Sr/86Sr ratiosthat may conceal other nonlocals present at St.Stephen’s. A corresponding overlap in values betweenthe western and eastern highlands due to their sharedCretaceous limestone and dolostone, as well as someintersection with bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr ratios from the

Mediterranean coastal plain, could also obscure the iden-tification of additional migrants to the region.

CONCLUSIONS

This study benefited from the wealth of comparativedata available from nearly 2 decades of study of the Byz-antine St. Stephen’s collection. An abundant writtenrecord indicates that the Byzantine period in Palestinewas marked by active pilgrimage to religious sites asso-ciated with Christian and Jewish traditions. The monas-tic vocation was likewise quite popular at the time, andmany travelers joined monasteries after arriving in theregion. Given the size, location, wealth, and politicalconnections enjoyed by Byzantine St. Stephen’s monas-tery, we have argued that those interred in the tombs ofthis complex very likely included pilgrims.

Archaeological, textual, demographic, and biodistanceanalyses complimented this radiogenic strontium isotopeanalysis in assessing the homogeneity of the St. Ste-phen’s collection. Our study revealed the presence of alarge number of nonlocal migrants to the monastery,with 36% of those tested originating outside the Jerusa-lem area. It is possible that this number was evenlarger, as some of the individuals classified as “local”may have been immigrants to the region who arrived aschildren, or who cannot be distinguished as suchbecause they resided elsewhere within highlands west ofthe Jordan River Valley, where Jerusalem was alsolocated. However, the majority of these nonlocal immi-grants appear to have originated from well outside theLevant, suggesting the commonality of long-distance pil-grimage to the ‘Holy Land’ and confirming the impor-tance of the monastery of St. Stephen’s during theByzantine period.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are especially grateful to Alicia Cooper forher contributions to this study as part of her 2006 NSF-REU Fellowship and senior thesis at the University ofNotre Dame. Thanks also goes to the L’�Ecole Biblique etArch�eologique Francaise de J�erusalem/Couvent Saint-�Etienne for permission to exhume and house the remainson their grounds, and for allowing the biogeochemicalstudy of the skeletal material from St. Stephen’s. Specialthanks to the W.F. Albright Institute for ArchaeologicalResearch and to Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalemfor their support during the exhumation of this collection.Finally, the authors are grateful for the assistance of Den-nis Birdsell at the Center for Environmental Sciences andTechnology at the University of Notre Dame, and DrewColeman at the University of North Carolina at ChapelHill Isotope Geochemistry Laboratory.

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