AI interpretationAI-generated
A Celtic La Tène man's teeth reveal two major lifetime moves across the Alps.
A young man aged 25-31, buried outside a formal cemetery in southern Germany around 478-374 BC, was studied using ancient DNA and isotope analysis. His DNA (Y-haplogroup G-L497, mtDNA J1c1) fits a Central European Iron Age Celtic background. Isotopes from his teeth show he ate a C3-plant-based diet in early childhood, shifted around age 7 to a diet with C4 plants and more animal protein, then returned around age 14 to his childhood pattern.
- Stable isotopes show a marked dietary shift at about age 7, then a return to the early childhood pattern at about age 14.
- Strontium ratios match this pattern: low in early childhood, higher in late childhood and adolescence, low again in young adulthood.
- The 7-14 period fits a trans-Alpine northern Italian habitat, while early childhood and adulthood fit a local pre-Alpine environment.
Sample interpretation
This dataset contains just one individual from a La Tène Celtic context. His Y-chromosome haplogroup could not be resolved to a terminal branch, so no Y-tree placement is available. His mtDNA is J1c1, a lineage found across Europe. With only one sample, nothing can be said about the wider population; this is a single, richly studied life history.
For genealogy enthusiasts
For ancestry enthusiasts, this shows how ancient DNA plus isotopes can trace one person's movements, not just his genetic origins. It is a rare direct glimpse of possible fosterage in La Tène Celtic society, though a single case cannot prove the practice was common.
Abstract
This multidisciplinary study investigated an isolated La Tène period burial near the village of Aholming in southern Germany. The moderately well-preserved skeleton belonged to a young adult male, aged 25–31 years at death, who had been buried outside a formal cemetery and without significant grave goods, although a typical funerary pit was identified nearby. The burial context suggests an individual of low to middle social status who may have died at or near the findspot. Radiocarbon analysis placed the individual between 478 and 374 cal BC. Ancient DNA analysis identified paternal haplogroup G-L497 and maternal haplogroup J1c1, supporting a Central European genetic background compatible with the archaeological attribution of the burial to an Iron Age Celtic context. Sequential stable isotope analysis of carbon, nitrogen, sulphur and hydrogen ratios was performed on teeth 36 (M1) and 38 (M3), generating a consecutive annual dataset on diet and environment from approximately 2 to 20 years of age. This was supplemented by cancellous and cranial bone samples reflecting the final years of life. The results revealed a marked dietary shift around the age of 7 years, from a moderately rich diet typical of a northern pre-Alpine C3-plant-based environment with mainly plant-derived protein sources, to a nutritionally richer setting characterised by C4 plants and increased animal protein intake. After approximately seven further years, around the age of 14, the individual appears to have returned to an environment with a dietary pattern comparable to that of his early childhood, with only minor changes during the remainder of his life. Strontium isotope ratios showed a corresponding pattern, with low values during early to mid-childhood, higher values during late childhood and adolescence, and a return to lower values in young adulthood. Overall, the results indicate two substantial long-term changes in the individual’s habitat. His early childhood and late adolescence to adulthood are compatible with a local northern pre-Alpine environment, whereas late childhood to early adolescence, approximately between 7 and 14 years of age, is most consistent with a trans-Alpine, northern Italian habitat. This marked change in living environment may reflect a period of fosterage, a practice previously proposed for Celtic societies of the La Tène period but rarely demonstrated through direct bioarchaeological evidence.