Historic-archaeological research on the Alamanni, an early medieval population in the periphery of the Frankish Empire, primarily focuses on themes such as their military character or issues of ethnicity, while the actual functioning of Alamannic societies remains conjectural. Aiming at presenting an integrated approach to the concepts of social organisation and social identities in Alamannic populations, this study examines and defines Alamannic identity and society by creating a dialogue between the disciplines of archaeology, biological anthropology and socio-cultural sciences. A bioarchaeology of identity explores the Alamanni of Pleidelsheim and Neresheim via their funerary and skeletal evidence, allowing for the factor of different environments that influence the interactions of a community. A key theme is the investigation of indicators for biological and social "status" by direct association of bioanthropological with funerary archaeological data, as well as by evaluation of present interpretations made from material culture in the light of bioanthropological analysis as a paramount focus. The results are interpreted in terms of social status and the perception of certain social parameters, exploring interrelations between factors such as sex and gender, age, status and activity for the entirety of a society. This research offers new perspectives on Alamannic societies and helps to comprehend Alamannic social organisation as a multi-layered phenomenon, emphasizing the importance of a biocultural approach. Beyond common perceptions, this study forms the basis for a new understanding of the Alamanni, as the results reveal a society that was complex and diverse, displaying its own characteristics in the Merovingian world. / AHRC. British Archaeological Association

Historic-archaeological research on the Alamanni, an early medieval population in the periphery of the Frankish Empire, primarily focuses on themes such as their military character or issues of ethnicity, while the actual functioning of Alamannic societies remains conjectural. Aiming at presenting an integrated approach to the concepts of social organisation and social identities in Alamannic populations, this study examines and defines Alamannic identity and society by creating a dialogue between the disciplines of archaeology, biological anthropology and socio-cultural sciences. A bioarchaeology of identity explores the Alamanni of Pleidelsheim and Neresheim via their funerary and skeletal evidence, allowing for the factor of different environments that influence the interactions of a community. A key theme is the investigation of indicators for biological and social 'status', by direct association of bioanthropological with funerary archaeological data, as well as by evaluation of present interpretations made from material culture in the light of bioanthropological analysis as a paramount focus. The results are interpreted in terms of social status and the perception of certain social parameters, exploring interrelations between factors such as sex and gender, age, status and activity for the entirety of a society. This research offers new perspectives on Alamannic societies and helps to comprehend Alamannic social organisation as a multi-layered phenomenon, emphasizing the importance of a biocultural approach. Beyond common perceptions, this study forms the basis for a new understanding of the Alamanni, as the results reveal a society that was complex and diverse, displaying its own characteristics in the Merovingian world.

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Abstract The purpose of my thesis is to improve the reliability of physical activity reconstructions by gaining better understanding of the effects of physical activity on bone structural adaptations: musculoskeletal stress markers (MSM) at muscle attachment sites and bone biomechanical properties. Bone responds to changes in mechanical loading resulting from activity and body weight. Activity reconstructions are important as they are the only means with which activity patterns of historic humans can be studied. However, MSMs have recently increased the debate about their reliability as activity indicators due to many bias factors which affect their appearance: age, size, sex and pathological changes. I studied the effects of physical activity on entheses from three perspectives. First, individuals performing heavy labour should have higher MSM scores compared to the light labour group due to elevated degree of mechanical loading at enthesis. This was studied on a population with known occupation and was among the first study designs of its kind. Second, a covariance between bone biomechanical properties and MSM was studied to infer etiology of MSM. The affects of activity and body weight on bone biomechanical properties are well known due to studies in sports medicine, whereas the causal mechanisms behind MSMs are not as clear. In theory, both should respond to stress with similar mechanisms. This is a novel approach to investigate the etiology behind MSMs. Third, if there is a possibility of site-specific adaptation of cortical bone, MSMs, which are local adaptations, can also result from site-specific stress. I found that while individuals performing heavy labour had higher scores, age-related changes in MSM override activity effects after biological maturity around 40 to 50 years. Also, MSMs and bone biomechanical properties are likely to remodel under same causal mechanisms as where there is an increase in one there is likely to be an increase in the other. Furthermore, bone has a possibility of site-specific response, as cortical thickness was increased at muscle pull sites compared to sites of no muscle pull. I propose that while MSM can be used to study the intensity of physical activity in individuals before they reach biological maturity, it is important to design studies where biasing factors, such as age, are considered. / Tiivistelmä Väitöskirjani tarkoitus on tutkia lihasten kiinnittymiskohtien mahdollisuuksia ja rajoituksia fyysisen aktiviteetin rekonstruktioissa ja näin parantaa rekonstruktioiden luotettavuutta. Aktiviteettihistoriaa voidaan tutkia lihasten kiinnittymiskohdista luun pinnalla tai luun poikkileikkauksen ominaisuuksista, koska luu reagoi muutoksiin mekaanisen rasituksen määrässä. Mekaaniseen rasitukseen vaikuttaa aktiviteetin lisäksi ruumiin koko. Aktiviteetin rekonstruktiot mahdollistavat ammatin ja harrastusten selvittämisen pelkän luustomorfologian perusteella. Ruumiin koon ja aktiviteetin lisäksi myös ikä, sukupuoli, patologiset muutokset sekä ruokavalio vaikuttavat lihasten kiinnittymiskohtiin. Tästä syystä tämän menetelmän rajoitusten selvittäminen on oleellista luotettavien rekonstruktioiden aikaansaamiseksi. Jos aktiviteetti heijastuu lihasten kiinnittymiskohtiin, raskasta ja kevyttä työtä tekevillä ihmisillä tulee olla erilainen luustomorfologia. Lisäksi, lihasten kiinnittymiskohtien morfologian sekä luun poikkileikkausten ominaisuuksien tulee muunnella yhdessä koska molemmat heijastavat aktiviteettia. Luun poikkileikkausten ominaisuuksien aktiviteettisidonnaisuus tunnetaan paremmin liikuntalääketieteellisten tutkimusten ansiosta. Kolmanneksi, jos luu voi vastata rasitukseen paikallisesti kasvattamalla luun paksuutta lihaksen vetosuuntaan nähden, myös luun pinnassa paikallisesti tapahtuvat muutokset ovat mahdollisia. Nämä ovat uusia lähestymistapoja aktiviteettia heijastavien syntymekanismien selvittämisessä. Tutkimustulosteni perusteella raskasta ja kevyttä työtä tekevillä ihmisillä on erilainen luustomorfologia lihaksen kiinnittymiskohdassa. Nämä muutokset ovat alttiita myös ikäsidonnaisille muutoksille, joten noin 40–50 ikävuoden jälkeen fyysisen aktiviteetin intensiteettiä ei voida enää luotettavasti rekonstruoida. Aktiviteetin aiheuttamien muutosten syntymekanismi lihaksen kiinnittymiskohdissa on todennäköisesti sama kuin luun poikkileikkausten ominaisuuksilla, koska molemmat muuntelevat yhdessä. Lisäksi huomasin, että luu voi reagoida rasitukseen myös paikallisesti, koska luun seinämät olivat paksumpia lihaksen vetosuunnassa verrattuna kohtaan, johon ei liittynyt suoraa lihaksen vetosuuntaa. Ehdotan, että lihasten kiinnittymiskohtia voidaan käyttää aktiviteetin rekonstruktioissa, kunhan tutkimuksessa otetaan huomioon muut vaikuttavat tekijät, kuten ikä.

Les enthésopathies sur le squelette sont considérées comme des "marqueurs d'activité" en anthropologie biologique. L'étude de tels "marqueurs" pour des fossiles européens du Paléolithique supérieur et du Mésolithique offre l'opportunité d'enrichir notre connaissance des comportements et des modes de vie de ces populations et d'en illustrer certains aspects inconnus, notamment la division sexuelle du travail. Les lacunes méthodologiques (absence de référence médicale et de validation) que présente cette approche m'ont conduit à proposer une nouvelle méthode d'étude. Cette méthode, composée de 4 systèmes de cotation, a été testée sur un échantillon de référence (âge au décès, sexe et activité connus). L'analyse a permis de caractériser une relation entre les modifications osseuses et l'activité physique pour l'un des systèmes. Ce dernier a ensuite été appliqué à un ensemble de fossiles européens du Paléolithique supérieur et du Mésolithique (n = 95) dont les caractéristiques biologiques (âge et sexe) ont été réévaluées au moyen de méthodes fiables. Les résultats attestent de l'intérêt de la démarche. D'une part, ils permettent d'avancer l'hypothèse d'une division sexuelle du travail à ces périodes, avec une pratique du lancer dévolue aux hommes. Ils révèlent d'autre part des différences comportementales entre les populations gravettiennes et celles des périodes plus récentes, impliquant notamment une réduction des distances parcourues et une intensification de l'exploitation du milieu à la fin du Paléolithique supérieur et au Mésolithique. / In bioarchaeology, enthesopathies i.e. "musculoskeletal stress markers" are assumed to reflect the activity of the attaching musculature. The study of enthesopathies in European Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic human fossils offers the opportunity to improve our knowledge of the behaviours and lifestyles of these populations and to reveal some unknown aspects like sexual division of labour. The methodological gaps in this approach (e.g. absence of medical reference and validation) led me to propose a new method of studying enthesopathies based on current medical data. This method consists of four scoring systems and has been tested on a reference sample of known age at death, sex and activity. The analysis has established a link between osseous modifications and physical activity for one of the systems. The latter has been applied to a sample of Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic fossils (n = 95) after a new assessment of their sex and age at death by using reliable methods. The results give evidence of the relevance of this approach. First, they allow to propose the hypothesis of a sexual division of labour during this period, with throwing activities devolved to men. Second, the results reveal behavioural differences between Gravettian populations and more recent ones, implying a reduction in mobility and an intensification of subsistence activities at the end of the Upper Palaeolithic and during the Mesolithic.