Romans, barbarians and foederati: New biomolecular data and a possible region of origin for “Headless Romans” and other burials from Britain

The Archiud “Hânsuri” cemetery in Transylvania, Romania is the burial site of a barbarian population from the Kingdom of the Gepids (4th–7th Cent AD). Previous work examining the dietary isotope life-histories and palaeopathological profiles of the non–adults (<16 years) has been published (Crowder et al., 2019). Strontium, carbon and oxygen isotopes were measured on enamel, dentine, and bone of four individuals from the Archiud cemetery to investigate residential origins. The Archiud individuals had 87Sr/86Sr values ranging from 0.70959 to 0.71016, δ13CVPDB values from −10.3 to −6.7‰ and δ18OVSMOW values from 23.9 to 25.5‰. All individuals are consistent with the available published data for the Transylvania Basin. The Archiud humans were compared to published Roman period individuals from British cemeteries of unknown origin who have isotope profiles inconsistent with Britain and the Mediterranean. Ten individuals from Driffield Terrace and 13 individuals from six other Roman cemeteries in Britain have similar isotopic values to the Archiud humans. The data suggest the non–British individuals may have originated from a region of similar geology and climate/latitude to the Transylvania Basin. The results of this research help to fill the gap in the biosphere data from Transylvania, as well as contextualise mobility studies within Transylvania, Europe, and Britain.