Mid-Term Report Summary - THE RISE (Travels, transmissions and transformations in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC in northern Europe: the rise of<br/>Bronze Age societies) ERC summary report for The Rise/Kristian KristiansenThe main achievements of the project according to thematic research blocs. Results so far suggest highly organized international trade in textiles and copper, and corresponding human mobility during the Bronze Age.ADNA and strontium isotope analysisaDNA: Morten Allentoft and Eske Willerslev. A total of 526 teeth from Bronze Age Europeans have been sampled, from sites across most of the European continent. These samples come from Armenia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Russia, and Sweden. 290 samples have completed the DNA screening phase of this project and data from another 160 samples will be ready by mid-July, 2014. The overall goal for the DNA part of this project is to profile whole ancient genomes and genome-wide data from a large number of Bronze Age Europeans. Achieving this, will allow us to conduct a range of sophisticated genomic analyses, to illuminate the colonization of Europe, and the ancestry and formation of the current European populations. Our project is arguably the largest and most ambitious ancient DNA project ever undertaken. It is unprecedented to profile 526 ancient individuals with next generation sequencing.Strontium: Doug Price and Karin Frei and K.G: Sjögren: We have collected 524 samples for strontium, carbon, and nitrogen isotope analysis for this project. The data in general appear to indicate a good deal of mobility among the people of the late Neolithic and Bronze Age. The large scale employment of 13C determinations on tooth enamel is unprecedented and will give new opportunities to discuss the complete diet, in contrast to the more conventional measurements on bone collagen which mainly indicate protein sourcesTextile analysisKarin Frei: conducted a total of 90 textile-related strontium isotope analyses from the Bronze Age aiming at tracing the provenance of the textile’s raw material. The textiles were all retrieved within Denmark. The preliminary interpretation of the results point to a high level of non-local raw materials, which may indicate that these raw materials where not locally available in Denmark during this periodSophie Bergerbrant has done fieldwork/museum studies mainly in Hungary at the settlement of Szazhalombatta, Exceptional for the site is the range and variation of the tools, indicating a very varied textile production from the finer to the coarser, from spinning to finishing, possibly embroidery.Serena Sabatini: Case studies are carried out at the Mycenaean citadel of Midea, Greece and the terramare village of Montale, Italy. Here a considerable number of loom weights demonstrate the existence of weaving; however the most astonishing data are the number of spindle whorls. Their number suggests that we are in the presence of a sort of “spinning” community.Lead isotope analysis of bronzesLene Melheim: The combined interpretation of lead isotope and trace element data enabled us to identify several different source areas as well as chronological shifts in the supply of copper to Scandinavia. In the period 2000-1600/1500 BC, analyses are consistent with Central European sources or sources in Ireland and the British Isles. Around 1600/1500 BC a marked shift in the supply of copper is seen. The best matches are found with ore sources in the Western Mediterranean, and mines in Spain, Sardinia and Italy. This source is dominant for the next 500 years. From c. 1000 BC onwards, a greater variation is seen, with a substantial influx of copper also from the Carpathians or the Eastern Alps.
